From nightlife to life at night: cities must stay open later to beat the rising heat

Simone Padovani/Getty Summer in Europe is normally cause for celebration.

Not this one, however, which will rank as one of the hottest on record .

Wildfires have broken out everywhere from France to Greece, while intense drought has turned the grass in London’s famous Hyde Park brown.

This week, much of Europe is sweltering through yet another heatwave .

Most European cities are designed to weather cold, not intense heat.

But temperatures are now regularly climbing over 35°C.

Prolonged, damaging heat is forcing rapid change.

Rather than abandoning normal life, urban residents put it on hold until cooler conditions arrive in the evening.

These changes are already measurable.

In our recent research , we analysed two years of bank card transaction data from three Australian cities to see what happened when the temperature rose over 35°C.

We found overall spending fell 7% during heatwaves.

Consumers spent less between midday and early evening, before spending stabilised after sunset.

As extreme heat becomes more common, it will affect businesses and organisations in more cities.

More of life will have to happen at night.