The first testing phase of Cool Noons laid the foundation for the future of the project, providing the set of data necessary to analyse the “before and after Cool Noons”: once the climate mitigation solutions are implemented (before summer 2025), the data collected in 2025 (post-intervention) will serve as a comparison of pre- and post-intervention for both environmental efficacy (lowering temperatures) and visitor behavior (how hot tourists feel and their satisfaction with their visit). This objective data will provide valuable insights shared across all 5 pilot cities.
The University of Coimbra partnered up with the American College of Greece to generate a scientifically robust framework for systematically collecting and analysing data, where the Portuguese University mostly focused on developing the methodology while the American College of Greece will be more involved in the analysis of the collected data.
The methodology includes three data collection sets over two phases.
Phase 1. Spatial comparison – Compare data collected in existing Cool Paths versus alternative hotter paths. This collection phase took place in Summer 2024.
Phase 2. Temporal comparison – Compare data collected pre- and post-intervention in targeted areas, analysing the same areas at different periods in time. This collection phase started in Summer 2024 and will continue in Summer 2025.
Dataset 1: ASSESSING COOLING EFFICACY
The objective of this data set is to determine if the interventions (implemented in 2025) actually reduce temperatures in cool paths and surrounding targeted areas.
The data to be collected are Land Surface Temperature (thanks to Landsat thermal images), temperatures (recorded by satellites), weather data from weather stations (air temperature, air humidity, air speed and radiation), alongside the data collected by the thermal cameras. The “thermal photos” were taken every 20m along the identified paths and present the current thermal conditions at street level.
The assessment of cooling efficacy implies a comparative analysis of the available data in two phases.
The University of the Coimbra specified the necessity to rely on scientific method, therefore data pre- and post- interventions must be collected under similar weather conditions and at the same period of the day, to mitigate the effects of seasonal or random fluctuations in weather states.
Dataset 2: ASSESSING ATTRACTIVENESS FOR TOURIST VISITOR: My Visit to the City
The objective of this data collection phase is to evaluate whether the Cool Paths and targeted areas attract more tourists and influence their behaviour.
The data to be collected are Tourist Movement (objective data) and Tourist Opinions (declared data through surveys).
The objective tourist movement data is collected via GPS, indicating location on the questionnaire, or even using WiFi geolocation data. This data helps us understand where tourists are within the city and if they’re using the cool path, or an alternative path.
The declared data consists of a 20-question survey asking tourists about their experience and thermal comfort levels. Questions focus on their overall perception of their visit to the city and satisfaction levels, with questions ranging from route choice and thermal comfort options, to expectations and enjoyment levels.
Again, in collecting this “declared” set of data, the lead partners in Data Collection and Analysis (University of Coimbra with the American College of Greece) stressed on the need of the pilots to grant consistency to the analysis across the different cities, by sharing and using identical metrics and the same questionnaires.
Dataset 3: ASSESSING EXPERIENCE ENHANCEMENT: How hot is it?
With the goal to measure the satisfaction levels of tourists and residents who are actively using the Cool Paths and compare it with the ones who do not use the itineraries identified by the project, the five pilot cities interviewed the users through a short, three-question survey in different locations. This survey asks respondents how hot they felt, how satisfied they were with their visit (tourists)/moving through the city (residents), and how satisfied they were with the cooling solutions provided.
Similar to the longer survey assessing tourist attractiveness, identical metrics were used with the same survey distributed by each pilot, ensuring consistency, reliability and validity of the findings.
TESTING IN SUMMER 2024
Phase one of the testing was completed in the Summer of 2024 with approximately 500 respondents surveyed between the 5 pilot cities.
The two surveys were distributed by the pilots in many innovative ways. Some pilots partnered with their local tourism boards, posting surveys in the tourism points around the city, and others relied on personal dissemination, asking tourists to complete the surveys while out exploring. One pilot took to social media, requesting participation using QR codes on Facebook, and another pilot incentivized participants by handing out water bottles with QR codes linking to the survey.
TESTING IN SUMMER 2025
As summer 2025 is about to begin, all pilot cities are preparing for the second round of testing, which will provide data about the thermal comfort after the implementation of the solutions.
