Building Climate Resilience in Galați: Local Climate Sandbox

On 20 May 2025, the Municipality of Galați successfully hosted a Local Climate Sandbox Workshop as part of the Be Ready project. Held at the Vega Hotel, the workshop marked a significant step toward localizing climate resilience efforts and co-designing actions to mitigate the impact of urban heat islands.
The event brought together a diverse mix of municipal officials, technical experts, and community representatives, creating an open space for shared learning and local knowledge exchange.

Participants were introduced to a scientific overview of Galați’s urban heat risk areas, delivered by an expert. The analysis highlighted critical heat zones across the city, incorporating socio-economic vulnerability indicators and environmental risk factors. Among the identified areas, Brăilei Street emerged as a priority for action, due to its dense built environment and high population exposure.

The core of the workshop focused on designing a pilot action based on green-blue acupuncture interventions—nature-based solutions that aim to provide localized cooling, increase urban resilience, and improve liveability for residents. In a participatory format, stakeholders collaboratively explored potential solutions, assessed their impact and scalability, and contributed to drafting a roadmap for pilot implementation, outlining a clear path from concept to action.

The Local Climate Sandbox in Galați demonstrated the importance of multilevel cooperation and community engagement in shaping context-sensitive adaptation strategies. The Municipality is now advancing the implementation of the pilot action and will monitor its outcomes, with a view to replicating successful solutions in other neighbourhoods.