In summer, the Congrés i els Indians neighborhood didn’t just feel the heat they measured it, lived it, and shared it. That’s why throughout 2024, the Chronicles of Heat project, led by the OpenSystems research group at the University of Barcelona, has turned the daily experience of facing extreme heat into a collective act of citizen science.
The neighborhood of Congrés i els Indians has gotten organized to understand how extreme heat impacts life in their streets. And they’ve done it in a rather original way: going outside, measuring temperatures, sharing feelings, and, most importantly, listening to one another to understand how heat is actually experienced in the neighborhood—plaza by plaza, bench by bench. All as part of the project Chronicles of Heat, led by OpenSystems at the University of Barcelona in collaboration with Canòdrom.
Thermometer in hand, and a lot to say
Between May and July 2024, different community groups —young people from UEC, children from CRAE, women from the Congrés-Indians Community Center, local shopkeepers and Canòdrom initiatives— carried out what they called “heat walks”. With a device called Meteotracker, they recorded temperature, humidity, and pressure in real time while walking through the neighborhood. But they didn’t just collect physical data: they also documented sensations, discomforts, and lived experiences in key spots such as Plaça del Congrés, Rom Cremat, and Canòdrom Square.
This micro-scale approach helps understand how heat is really experienced on the ground, and where it becomes hardest to bear. As project coordinator Isabelle Bonhoure from OpenSystems says, “heat doesn’t affect us all the same, nor is it lived the same way everywhere.”
Shared reflections and futures
The project has gone far beyond just collecting data. In November 2024, at the Canòdrom, a special gathering was held to share experiences not only from this neighborhood, but from all participating areas. Because ‘Chronicles of Heat’ is not just local: more than 450 people from four municipalities and five neighborhoods in the Barcelona metropolitan area took part, including Sant Vicenç dels Horts, Montcada i Reixac, Collblanc-La Torrassa, and El Born in Barcelona.
At the event, organized by OpenSystems and the Canòdrom, participants shared insights, preliminary data, and above all, community perspectives on how heat is lived and suffered in different urban contexts.
Building community (also against heat)
In March 2025, the data and experiences from the Chronicles of Heat project were shared at the Congrés-Indians Community Table. Although the results are not yet enough for global conclusions, they have already identified specific needs: more shade in public spaces, accessible and well-known climate shelters, and above all, continued collective work to adapt the neighborhood to the new climate reality. Because when the heat rises, the community organizes too.
And this hasn’t just stayed in words. Several local facilities have continued taking action: as part of the Calidoscopi Cultural, the Canòdrom hosted the event “Dancing in Open Code” on June 5—a performing arts proposal under the shade of the plaza. Also, from April to June, the Congrés-Indians Community Center held a participatory exhibition inspired by the children’s book You Can Too! by Anna Llaudaró, with cardboard water droplets decorated by local children and organizations as a way to face climate change.
And this summer, during July and August, the community center remains a climate activation space with a new exhibition on climate emergency, in collaboration with the Sant Andreu Environmental Classroom. A way to keep thinking together about how to care for each other better—even when the heat turns up.
