Whether heavy rain or heat, floods or drought: Extreme weather is no longer a rarity — and this applies to the entire globe.

Scientists have said that Europe, which is warming the fastest due to human-caused climate change, counted more than 60,000 excess deaths due to heat in 2022. In 2023, there were more than 47,000 heat-related deaths. Most of these people had underlying health conditions, but the hot temperatures placed additional strain on their bodies.

2024 was Earth's warmest year since modern record-keeping began, and the past 10 consecutive years have made up the warmest decade on record.

Architects and urban planners can no longer ignore these figures. "To address a burning world, architecture must harness the full intelligence around us," said Carlo Ratti, curator of the 19th Venice Architecture Biennale, which is on show from May 10 to November 23. The Turin-born architect added that our approach to building must adapt now, not at some point in the future.

The theme of the exhibition, "Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective," refers to the challenges we face and "invites different types of intelligence to work together to rethink the built environment," said Ratti. "The very Latin title Intelligens contains the word 'gens' ('people') — inviting us to experiment beyond today's limited focus on AI and digital technologies."

The curator also noted that the building world needs to pool its strengths and knowledge from all of its actors — from the construction industry to architects to urban planning. "Architecture needs to reach out across generations and across disciplines, from the hard sciences to the arts," he said.

Sealed cities are heating up

The greatest concern is the overheating of urban areas, caused by the fact that cities are heavily sealed, covered by concrete and asphalt surfaces. There are too few trees to provide shade and help cool them. That creates heat islands, leading to overheating.

During heavy rain, sealed surfaces also prevent water from seeping into the ground and contribute to the collapse of sewage systems. It's a vicious circle.

So, what can be done? "The problems are known, solutions have long been on the table," said Peter Cachola Schmal, director of the Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt, "but implementation is lacking. We're too slow!"

He cited Paul-Arnsberg-Platz in Frankfurt's Ostend district as an example. Once feared for its oven-like climate, the square has since been redesigned and rebuilt, and now the paved area is dotted with flowerbeds and young trees. The city of Frankfurt has called it an "urgently needed climate adaptation."

But Schmal still isn't convinced, and said he finds the project halfhearted. "Yes, the trees will cast decent shade — in 30 years!"

Paris undergoes transportation revolution

Climate adaptation is definitely on the agenda. Municipalities — and taxpayers — will be required to invest a lot of money to achieve this. And what's often lacking is quick, unbureaucratic decision-making.

Paris, which has suffered a particularly high number of heat-related deaths, is seen as a model. Mayor Anne Hidalgo has responded to the crisis by implementing a radical transportation revolution in her city. Her administration has reduced traffic in the city center, tripled parking fees for SUVs and unsealed street parking spaces, converting them into breathable green spaces.

Hidalgo's green push has angered some Parisian drivers, but she has also received widespread praise across Europe.

Meanwhile, other cities like Copenhagen and Rotterdam are transforming themselves into flood-resistant "sponge cities" — also exemplary in this regard.

Elisabeth Endres, professor of building technology at the University of Braunschweig, has called for nothing less than a global "construction revolution." Together with Munich architect Nicola Borgmann, landscape architect Gabriele G. Kiefer and architect Daniele Santucci, she is curating Germany's Biennale pavilion.

Visitor who enter the German pavilion at the Lido can experience firsthand what the future urban climate will feel like: hot, oppressive and dangerous. "Stress Test" is the name of the immersive exhibition, which is accompanied by a film collage, a wealth of information and artwork, including a video work by Christoph Brech in which a bell rings as a warning.

Adaptation to climate change 'needs to be much faster'

The message seems to have already reached many people.

In Frankfurt, for example, climate activists of all ages have taken up urban farming. As self-proclaimed "vegetable heroes," they cultivate traffic islands and other green spaces, growing fruit and vegetables.

Signs on Berlin's city trees, pleading "Water me!," are inviting citizens to contribute to climate protection.

Climate-friendly construction has long been a topic of museum exhibitions. The Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt will be presenting a whole series of successful projects starting in June, as part of the exhibition: "Architecture and Energy: Building in Times of Climate Change."

Will the Architecture Biennale be enough to spark a new beginning? "The impetus will come quite automatically," Endres told DW — because "we will suffer" as the impact of global warming is felt by everyone. The world will inevitably need to take action — and quickly.

"Cities that have prepared well will emerge from this well. Others won't," said co-curator Borgmann, who directs the Munich Architecture Gallery. "There is already hope that things will change — but it just needs to be much faster, otherwise European cities will no longer be habitable in a few decades."

This article was originally written in German.