Urban Cooling Strategies and Performance Indicators in Brussels: Targets, KPIs, and Policy Integration: Brussels-Specific Implementations

The City of Brussels has implemented a range of adaptation measures to address increasing thermal stress and localized heat accumulation, drawing on a combination of vegetation-based interventions, water-sensitive design, material innovations, and spatial planning. This report evaluates these interventions using a performance classification system inspired by international analytical frameworks, combining green, blue, grey, and morphological infrastructure categories. The analysis consolidates evidence from municipal policy documents, peer-reviewed studies, and field-based research, including the ILOTS project led by SBD Lab in collaboration with MK Engineering and 1010 Landscape Architecture. For each measure, baseline data, target values, and monitoring approaches were examined to determine readiness levels and identify data gaps. Findings highlight the city’s progress in urban greening and canopy expansion, contrasted by slower advancement in certain cooling measures without defined targets or tracking mechanisms. The study also underscores the co-benefits and socio-spatial equity implications of cooling strategies, emphasizing the importance of integrated, multi-scale approaches for climate adaptation. Recommendations are provided for strengthening monitoring systems, ensuring equitable distribution of cooling benefits, and aligning future interventions with measurable performance indicators.