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Urban regeneration offers extensive opportunities for tackling climate change. However, in the Republic of Korea, successful examples of such policy integration are rare. Whereas many studies have analysed inhibiting factors of policy integration, the perspective of this paper is different. It investigates enabling factors that promote policy integration in the cases of climate change and urban regeneration policies under non-supportive politicoadministrative framework conditions. Two good practice examples from Seoul (i.e. the neighbourhoods of Jangwi-dong and Sangdo 4-dong) provide a basis for analysing: (1) which topics facilitated integration; (2) which stakeholders promoted the integration of climate change and urban regeneration policies and how; and (3) whether and how long-term community effects could be generated. A mixed-methods approach is used: document analysis, content analysis, interviews (n=50) and process-tracing methods. The results show the significance of local promoters and their politico-administrative skills to frame distinct subjects comprehensively which facilitates support from different programmes. Second, open and flexible regulatory frameworks as well as the readiness of higher level authorities to learn from local experiments are conducive to innovation. Third, the institutionalisation and mainstreaming of new topics, e.g. climate change, is a precondition for creating lasting effects in urban regeneration areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The underlying issues of why housing adaptability is important today are introduced, together with the drivers and barriers to uptake. This editorial explains the different kinds of adaptability (environmental, spatial, social and multi-use(r)) and how they can be achieved. The themes and individual papers in this special issue are discussed, together with their individual, community and societal importance. The global pandemic highlighted the realities of achieving incremental spatial adaptations, but also the attitudinal changes enabling temporary 'choreographing' of different social uses of spaces. New methods for investigating housing adaptability are also highlighted to better understand occupants' needs and to demonstrate how adaptability adds value to occupants. Residents have an active role in undertaking temporal adaptations. However, this depends on provisions made by clients, developers, designers and managers involving the layout, design and multifunctional uses of space. This includes making outdoor spaces more adaptable and developing scenarios that allow dwellings to accommodate changes over time (daily, seasonally and over life-course cycles). Adaptable approaches rely on careful planning and design of room layouts (and the services that support them) to enable connection between rooms and different uses of rooms without restriction of use by residents. Housing adaptability should be based on inclusivity and equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Far from being a panacea, air-conditioning is shown to create social, environmental and economic problems. Alternatives to air-conditioning are identified as a key means of reducing energy demand and carbon emissions, improving resilience to heat, and providing a healthy indoor environment. These alternatives are more than a technological issue and help to reframe coolth as an attribute and not a commodity. This editorial introduces the themes and individual papers in this special issue. It explores the implications of these alternative solutions across a range of issues: health and wellbeing; air quality; heat stress; technical/design solutions; economics and equity; climate change; social expectations and practices; policy and regulation; supply chain and procurement; education and training. Recommendations for change involve policy and regulation, construction industry business models, redefining the design decision process, improving performance and feedback, and updating workforce skills and capabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moisture-damaged buildings are a prominent issue in Finland, but with limited information on damage prevalence, degree of severity and risk factors. This paper analyses 14,996 Finnish detached and semidetached houses that have undergone a standardised moisture assessment of interior spaces and at-risk structures inside the building envelope. Confirmed damage (a binary indicator of damage presence) and a damage index (an ordinal indicator of severity) were calculated for each home and their association with different building and area characteristics estimated. Frequently damaged structures include pre-1950s log walls, walls contacting soil, wooden ground floors and false plinths. Around 15% of surveyed houses had risk structure damage, 19% had at least one confirmed damage anywhere in the house and 49% had either confirmed, likely or possible damage. The greatest risk factor for confirmed damage was house age (odds ratio = 1.48 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.45-1.51) for each decade since construction), with nearly half of all houses built pre-1939 damaged. Other risk factors explained a third of the effect of building age, and included log external walls, fibreboard roofs, absence of mechanical ventilation, detached properties and wind-driven rain precipitation. Results can support targeted remediation efforts, protect health and estimate exposure-response relationships for moisture damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current adaptation theory tends to consider individual buildings or the city level, which cannot address decisions related to masterplan developments on large brownfield sites. This paper investigates the drivers for building demolition or retention and adaptation decisions at the masterplan scale. Expert interviews and three case studies are used to explore how and why decisions to demolish, or to retain and adapt, are made at this scale. The research compared three different geopolitical contexts: Cambridge in the UK; Eindhoven in the Netherlands; and Sydney in Australia. Additional factors and complexities that should be considered at the masterplan scale are identified. The theoretical underpinnings of urban development processes are used to explain these complexities in relation to four existing models and demonstrate that no one model is adequate to describe the interactions. With increasing awareness of climate change impacts, it is critical that demolition decisions on masterplan developments are reviewed in the light of retaining carbon as well as heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Normative future visioning (NFV) offers a critical approach that can respond to the challenges of transformative adaptation. In the context of climate crisis, an understanding of the diversity of desired end-states and pathways for good urban futures is fundamental to fostering cooperation and inspiring purposeful action that can challenge and transform unsustainable processes and behaviours, and researching these processes. This paper contributes to transformative adaptation and climate resilient development by conceptualising NFV as a critical pedagogy. This framing understands NFV as a collective learning experience that can lead to emancipation and transformative action. A novel Encounter–Change Framework is proposed as a general mechanism for evaluating NFV methods. The framework is tested through the Tomorrow’s Cities project across its NFV deployment in nine cities: Quito, Istanbul, Nairobi, Kathmandu, Rapti, Nablus, Dar es Salaam, Cox’s Bazar and Chattogram. General lessons highlight the importance for NFV evaluation of analysing both methodological detail and its positioning within wider policy and planning processes. Detailed empirical findings reveal key lessons and challenges that emerge from practice – related to time, ethics, co-production, diversity, consensus, equity and authorship. These inform both NFV and other participatory experiences that aim at transformation. Policy relevance Transformative adaptation has proven difficult to implement in cities. It promises fundamental changes to socio-technological systems and in so doing raises concerns for future populations and generations, particularly those more vulnerable and equity-deprived. This paper puts forward a framework that offers one way beyond this impasse and supports practices that are future- and transformation-oriented: the Encounter–Change Framework. By drawing on key themes and insights from critical (urban) pedagogies (encounters, connections, emancipation and action and change), a way is proposed to evaluate practical NFV experiences. The Encounter–Change Framework is tested across nine cities. The results emphasise two lines of innovation for policy: a) unpacking the process of NFV from a perspective of power to increase its chances for impact and b) evaluating the positioning of NFV, both in relation to other future approaches and questions and as a part of wider adaptation policy and planning strategies.

Globally, cities and urban regions have initiated coastal adaptation planning to address increasing risk from sea level rise. However, there is growing awareness that sea level rise and other coastal flood risks will exacerbate existing social inequities if left unchecked. Planning scholars and practitioners have identified the importance of integrating an equity lens into their coastal adaptation planning, yet standards for defining and evaluating equity and justice in coastal adaptation planning have not been well outlined or applied. In response, more research is needed on tools for assessing processes and outcomes of equitable coastal adaptation planning. This paper asks: How are equity and justice being evaluated in urban coastal adaptation planning (UCAP)? The objectives are to: a) expand usages of equity and justice in UCAP and b) present a new framework for evaluating equity and justice within UCAP. The aim of the JustAdapt framework is to support UCAP scholars and practitioners in their pursuit of transformative urban adaptation, moving away from ‘checking the box’ on equity and toward just solutions. JustAdapt asks scholars and practitioners to disrupt dominant norms within the field and instead embrace reflexivity, accountability, and fluidity as they plan in relationship with the shifting tideline. Practice relevance Planning for sea level rise along urban shorelines presents an ever-changing challenge for urban coastal adaptation planning (UCAP) practitioners. Addressing equity and justice in UCAP adds another layer of complexity, as impacts from sea level rise will exacerbate historic and present inequities in coastal cities. This paper offers two main contributions: a) new understandings of equity and justice across five forms of justice – procedural, distributive, recognitional, intergenerational, and epistemic, and b) a new framework that can be used evaluate the degree to which equity and justice are integrated into a UCAP process. The JustAdapt framework supports practitioners to take actionable steps toward integrating equity and justice into their UCAP work, asking them to participate in the transition toward just urban adaptation.

Cities worldwide are struggling to build resilience to the risks posed by climate change for their infrastructures, economies and quality of life. However, no city government has sufficient capacities to fund the adaptations required to ensure such resilience alone. Copenhagen's efforts to secure financing for adaptation and mitigation are investigated, focusing on its innovative arrangements for funding projects to protect against extreme rainfall and flooding. A mixed-methods approach explores how municipal actors and investors accessed finance for supporting transition to a climate-adapted city. Mobilising concepts from the multilevel perspective to analyse the governance and market conditions that facilitate or impede such financing, this paper contributes to sustainable transition theory and the assessment of different funding approaches. The case study confirms the comprehensiveness and effective implementation of the city's plans, especially its innovative financing product for adaptation to urban flooding. However, this approach has knock-on effects for tackling other climate hazards, partnerships and investment urgency. Although extreme rainfall events in 2011-13 opened a valuable 'window of opportunity' for change at the system landscape level, catalysing a radical shift in government policy and investment, this disruption did not elicit a commensurate response from the city's finance sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative studies of urban adaptation have evaluated the progress, means and scope of adaptation planning. Practice on the ground shows that the local politics of climate adaptation advance through various strategies to align different interests and spheres of action or disrupt mainstream practices, which translates into a wide range of interventions. This paper focuses on understanding the dynamics and tools that enable the institutionalisation of adaptation practices in local governments, i.e. the means through which adaptation practices, beyond plans and policies, are embedded in the routines of urban governance. It presents a framework to analyse the institutionalisation of adaptation that maps stages and tools with the potential to deliver adaptation in urban areas. Adaptation is framed as a learning process involving overlapping phases of recognition (of needs, capacities and actors), groundwork (knowledge generation) and action on the ground (change). The framework compares three Spanish local government initiatives (Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid). The analysis shows that adaptation can be effectively incorporated into standard rules, norms and practices using combinations of tools and spatial and temporal scales. The coupled stages of recognition, groundwork and action highlight the importance of long-term learning processes to engage with the temporal dimensions of adaptation governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive Living is a concept and practical intervention developed from a systematic literature review and co-produced by the Scottish housing sector. The approach aims to implement inclusive change in areas of development, repair, maintenance and service delivery by facilitating longer term planning within housing organisations to create homes that are accessible and allow for ageing-in-place. This synthesis paper critically examines the theories that support the Inclusive Living framework, focusing on adaptations (also known as home and environmental modifications to support accessibility). Current challenges around accessibility are explored: poor-quality homes, disinvestment in repair and maintenance, and the fragmented policy landscape and funding around adaptations. Proactive approaches to adaptations are found to lead to better outcomes for individuals and they need to be understood as a 'public issue' not a 'private trouble' to encourage investment in housing sector solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summertime overheating in dwellings in temperate climates is widespread. Overheating in bedrooms disrupts sleep, degrading health and wellbeing, and can be life-threatening. Air-conditioning homes is a solution, but is expensive and adds load onto electricity networks. An alternative is to provide safe havens, a cool retreat for sleeping when the main bedroom overheats. This paper estimates the number of English dwellings that might already have such spaces. The 2017 Energy Follow Up Survey (EFUS) to the English Housing Survey (EHS) provides temperatures measured in the main bedroom, up to two other bedrooms and the living room of 750 homes. These data were collected in 2018, a summer typical of those expected in the 2050s. The main bedroom overheated in 19% of the housing stock as judged by an adaptive comfort criterion. Up to 76% of these homes had living rooms that could provide a safe haven, and in up to 46% an alternative bedroom might provide a safe haven. Very few, if any, flats and small-area dwellings had a safe haven. These figures provide an upper-bound estimate; in practice the useable number of safe havens is likely to be less. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparative studies of urban adaptation have evaluated the progress, means and scope of adaptation planning. Practice on the ground shows that the local politics of climate adaptation advance through various strategies to align different interests and spheres of action or disrupt mainstream practices, which translates into a wide range of interventions. This paper focuses on understanding the dynamics and tools that enable the institutionalisation of adaptation practices in local governments,i.e. the means through which adaptation practices, beyond plans and policies, are embedded in the routines of urban governance. It presents a framework to analyse the institutionalisation of adaptation that maps stages and tools with the potential to deliver adaptation in urban areas. Adaptation is framed as a learning process involving overlapping phases of recognition (of needs, capacities and actors), groundwork (knowledge generation) and action on the ground (change). The framework compares three Spanish local government initiatives (Bilbao, Barcelona and Madrid). The analysis shows that adaptation can be effectively incorporated into standard rules, norms and practices using combinations of tools and spatial and temporal scales. The coupled stages of recognition, groundwork and action highlight the importance of long-term learning processes to engage with the temporal dimensions of adaptation governance. 'Policy relevance' Addressing the adaptation gap in urban areas requires the institutionalisation of climate adaptation as a routine part of decision-making. Institutionalisation refers to actions whereby adaptation to climate change is mainstreamed in urban practices, rules and norms, enabling the long-term impact of adaptation actions beyond the confines of adaptation plans. Using institutionalisation, adaptation goals can be integrated into urban governance and facilitate social learning. This paper examines the processes of implementation of adaptation and how they interact with and are shaped by existing contexts of infrastructure and institutions. Adaptation requires a gradual process of institutional change whereby adaptation becomes ‘institutionalised’ in municipal policy. Coupled phases of recognition, groundwork and action along a temporal scale are needed to deliver adaptation and advance learning and effective action. Three cases of urban adaptation in Spain demonstrate the various processes whereby institutionalisation occurs.

Moisture-damaged buildings are a prominent issue in Finland, but with limited information on damage prevalence, degree of severity and risk factors. This paper analyses 14,996 Finnish detached and semidetached houses that have undergone a standardised moisture assessment of interior spaces and at-risk structures inside the building envelope. Confirmed damage (a binary indicator of damage presence) and a damage index (an ordinal indicator of severity) were calculated for each home and their association with different building and area characteristics estimated. Frequently damaged structures include pre-1950s log walls, walls contacting soil, wooden ground floors and false plinths. Around 15% of surveyed houses had risk structure damage, 19% had at least one confirmed damage anywhere in the house and 49% had either confirmed, likely or possible damage. The greatest risk factor for confirmed damage was house age (odds ratio = 1.48 (95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.45–1.51) for each decade since construction), with nearly half of all houses built pre-1939 damaged. Other risk factors explained a third of the effect of building age, and included log external walls, fibreboard roofs, absence of mechanical ventilation, detached properties and wind-driven rain precipitation. Results can support targeted remediation efforts, protect health and estimate exposure–response relationships for moisture damage. Practice relevance Moisture damage in homes causes various health concerns for occupants, and in colder climates such as Finland such damage often occurs within the building structure. This study finds confirmed moisture damage in 19% of surveyed Finnish homes. Most damage was within the building structure, supporting the need for surveys investigating inside known-risk structures. Older homes had much higher damage risk, reflecting different construction methods and ageing, but also suggesting modern building standards are helping to reduce damage. Increased risk in higher wind-driven precipitation regions indicates a need for regulations and research that improve the resilience of all housing to the projected increases in driving rain from climate change. Understanding the building characteristics and structures that increase moisture risk can support targeted remediation and maintenance in vulnerable buildings, conserve older buildings and avoid demolition, and help protect occupant health.

Current adaptation theory tends to consider individual buildings or the city level, which cannot address decisions related to masterplan developments on large brownfield sites. This paper investigates the drivers for building demolition or retention and adaptation decisions at the masterplan scale. Expert interviews and three case studies are used to explore how and why decisions to demolish, or to retain and adapt, are made at this scale. The research compared three different geopolitical contexts: Cambridge in the UK; Eindhoven in the Netherlands; and Sydney in Australia. Additional factors and complexities that should be considered at the masterplan scale are identified. The theoretical underpinnings of urban development processes are used to explain these complexities in relation to four existing models and demonstrate that no one model is adequate to describe the interactions. With increasing awareness of climate change impacts, it is critical that demolition decisions on masterplan developments are reviewed in the light of retaining carbon as well as heritage. Practice relevance This research demonstrates the different and specific concerns applying to demolition and retention on masterplan scale sites compared with the individual building scale. Although the evidence shows that decisions are context specific, the criteria as identified and categorised within this research offer a useful tool for stakeholders when establishing their priorities and approaches to decisions to demolish or retain and adapt within a masterplan context. This should help to avoid contested decisions and can help community groups hoping to have an influence over the long-term decisions, as well as developers looking to retain good relationships with the local community. The identified criteria can support planners and local authorities responsible for approving masterplan developments to better understand the factors relevant to each decision, including the importance of retaining flexibility throughout to enable response to changing circumstances.

Globally extreme weather events are experienced most acutely in cities. While formal settlements can respond to such events, informal settlements are often vulnerable and illprepared. Sub-Saharan Africa is rapidly urbanising with informal settlements that require effective climate change adaptation measures. Two climate adaptation strategies for informal dwellings are considered for their success under 2100 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) climate scenarios. Using existing data collected from informal dwellings in South Africa, the findings from a digital simulation study reveal that cool roof paints can currently lower excessive heat stress conditions by 42-63% when applied to high thermal mass dwellings with poorly insulated lightweight corrugated sheeting roofing. However, for the future 2100 climate scenarios this strategy only lowers excessive heat stress conditions by 12-17%. This calls for the development of integrated multifaceted heat stress adaptation strategies for informal settlements in Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities worldwide are struggling to build resilience to the risks posed by climate change for their infrastructures, economies and quality of life. However, no city government has sufficient capacities to fund the adaptations required to ensure such resilience alone. Copenhagen’s efforts to secure financing for adaptation and mitigation are investigated, focusing on its innovative arrangements for funding projects to protect against extreme rainfall and flooding. A mixed-methods approach explores how municipal actors and investors accessed finance for supporting transition to a climate-adapted city. Mobilising concepts from the multilevel perspective to analyse the governance and market conditions that facilitate or impede such financing, this paper contributes to sustainable transition theory and the assessment of different funding approaches. The case study confirms the comprehensiveness and effective implementation of the city’s plans, especially its innovative financing product for adaptation to urban flooding. However, this approach has knock-on effects for tackling other climate hazards, partnerships and investment urgency. Although extreme rainfall events in 2011–13 opened a valuable ‘window of opportunity’ for change at the system landscape level, catalysing a radical shift in government policy and investment, this disruption did not elicit a commensurate response from the city’s finance sector. 'Practice relevance' Several challenges exist for municipalities and investors when financing urban adaptation. Innovation is needed not only in technology but also in approaches to financing and investment. A key strength of Copenhagen’s adaptation approach lies in its innovative financing arrangements for funding an effective response to the risks of extreme rainfall, 'i.e'. combining measures to protect against urban flooding with improvements in the urban public realm. A sustainable transition model can help guide cities in planning and funding adaptation to climate change. Recommendations include equal prioritisation by all actors of climate adaptation and mitigation; the removal of constraints on private sector participation; government engagement with a diverse set of private capital providers; experimentation with different financing mechanisms; the development of bankable adaptation projects; and efforts to monetise and unlock the value of adaptation projects.

Highlights The underlying issues of why housing adaptability is important today are introduced, together with the drivers and barriers to uptake. This editorial explains the different kinds of adaptability (environmental, spatial, social and multi-use(r)) and how they can be achieved. The themes and individual papers in this special issue are discussed, together with their individual, community and societal importance. The global pandemic highlighted the realities of achieving incremental spatial adaptations, but also the attitudinal changes enabling temporary ‘choreographing’ of different social uses of spaces. New methods for investigating housing adaptability are also highlighted to better understand occupants’ needs and to demonstrate how adaptability adds value to occupants. Residents have an active role in undertaking temporal adaptations. However, this depends on provisions made by clients, developers, designers and managers involving the layout, design and multifunctional uses of space. This includes making outdoor spaces more adaptable and developing scenarios that allow dwellings to accommodate changes over time (daily, seasonally and over life-course cycles). Adaptable approaches rely on careful planning and design of room layouts (and the services that support them) to enable connection between rooms and different uses of rooms without restriction of use by residents. Housing adaptability should be based on inclusivity and equity.

Highlights Far from being a panacea, air-conditioning is shown to create social, environmental and economic problems. Alternatives to air-conditioning are identified as a key means of reducing energy demand and carbon emissions, improving resilience to heat, and providing a healthy indoor environment. These alternatives are more than a technological issue and help to reframe coolth as an attribute and not a commodity. This editorial introduces the themes and individual papers in this special issue. It explores the implications of these alternative solutions across a range of issues: health and wellbeing; air quality; heat stress; technical/design solutions; economics and equity; climate change; social expectations and practices; policy and regulation; supply chain and procurement; education and training. Recommendations for change involve policy and regulation, construction industry business models, redefining the design decision process, improving performance and feedback, and updating workforce skills and capabilities.

Inclusive Living is a concept and practical intervention developed from a systematic literature review and co-produced by the Scottish housing sector. The approach aims to implement inclusive change in areas of development, repair, maintenance and service delivery by facilitating longer term planning within housing organisations to create homes that are accessible and allow for ageing-in-place. This synthesis paper critically examines the theories that support the Inclusive Living framework, focusing on adaptations (also known as home and environmental modifications to support accessibility). Current challenges around accessibility are explored: poor-quality homes, disinvestment in repair and maintenance, and the fragmented policy landscape and funding around adaptations. Proactive approaches to adaptations are found to lead to better outcomes for individuals and they need to be understood as a ‘public issue’ not a ‘private trouble’ to encourage investment in housing sector solutions. 'Practice relevance' An Inclusive Living approach supports housing strategy holistically, examining not only physical modifications but also how housing facilitates social relationships and connections, tackling structural inequalities, and supporting social inclusion. This entails a life-course approach, where inclusivity in planning for the future can benefit all groups. A more systematic approach to planning for housing and ageing will be impactful, inclusive and proactive.

This article examines cooling in the built environment, an area of rapidly rising energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions. Specifically, the status quo of cooling is assessed and proposals are made for how to advance towards sustainable cooling through five levers of change: social interactions, technology innovations, business models, governance and infrastructure design. Achieving sustainable cooling requires navigating the opportunities and barriers presented by the incumbent technology that currently dominates the way in which cooling is provided--the vapour-compression refrigerant technology (or airconditioners). Air-conditioners remain the go-to solution for growing cooling demand, with other alternatives often overlooked. This incumbent technology has contributed to five barriers hindering the transition to sustainable cooling: (1) building policies based exclusively on energy efficiency; (2) a focus on temperature rather than other thermal comfort variables; (3) building-centric design of cooling systems instead of occupantcentric design; (4) businesses guided by product-only sales; and (5) lack of innovation beyond the standard operational phase of the incumbent technology. Opportunities and priority actions are identified for policymakers, cooling professionals, technicians and citizens to promote a transition towards sustainable cooling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With 80% of the 2050 housing stock already built, the UK has at least 19 million existing homes in need of low carbon retrofit. Practice-theory-based studies have argued that these retrofits must be understood in the context of wider home adaptations and routine practices of dwelling. Therefore, changes in practices caused by the Covid-19 pandemic create a gap in the knowledge regarding the impact on home adaptations and integration of low carbon retrofit. This research compares two stages of interviews: the first undertaken in 2015-16 (30 households), investigating home adaptations and the practices of dwelling they supported. The second stage undertaken in summer 2021 (nine re-interviewees) asking participants to reflect on how their practices of dwelling had changed and how their homes had accommodated this. Rigorous line-by-line coding of the relationships between attributes of the home and practices of dwelling allows comparison between stages, offering original practice-theory-based insights into the implications for home adaptations. The findings show that practices of homeworking in particular placed great spatial and environmental pressure on the homes of growing families. If continued, these practices would create increased demand for dedicated workspaces, and significant opportunities to integrate fabric improvements and low carbon technologies into these adaptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summertime overheating in dwellings in temperate climates is widespread. Overheating in bedrooms disrupts sleep, degrading health and wellbeing, and can be life-threatening. Air-conditioning homes is a solution, but is expensive and adds load onto electricity networks. An alternative is to provide safe havens, a cool retreat for sleeping when the main bedroom overheats. This paper estimates the number of English dwellings that might already have such spaces. The 2017 Energy Follow Up Survey (EFUS) to the English Housing Survey (EHS) provides temperatures measured in the main bedroom, up to two other bedrooms and the living room of 750 homes. These data were collected in 2018, a summer typical of those expected in the 2050s. The main bedroom overheated in 19% of the housing stock as judged by an adaptive comfort criterion. Up to 76% of these homes had living rooms that could provide a safe haven, and in up to 46% an alternative bedroom might provide a safe haven. Very few, if any, flats and small-area dwellings had a safe haven. These figures provide an upper-bound estimate; in practice the useable number of safe havens is likely to be less. 'Policy relevance' Safe havens for use during heatwaves have been suggested as a climate-adaptive strategy to ameliorate indoor overheating. In this study, the prevalence of safe havens, which can be slept in when the main bedroom overheats, is estimated. Living rooms offered the best opportunity of a safe haven for sleeping, with 5.8 million of the 7.4 million people experiencing an overheated main bedroom being relieved of exposure. Flats and small dwellings were more prone to overheating, but few, if any, had either a living room or a spare bedroom that offered a safe haven. Overall, this study strengthens the idea that public health advice, especially during heatwaves, should be tailored to different dwelling and household types. For larger dwellings other than flats, advice could emphasise the benefits of sleeping in the living room, where possible, on hot nights. Homes without safe havens should be the focus of heat mitigation retrofit strategies.