The sun burns and the mercury rises. For those who have to miss the air conditioning and have no money for a day at the swimming pool, a hot summer day can be tiring and tiring.
Yet in Drenthe there are surprisingly number of places where you can look for free cooling, if you know where to be.
Libraries are more than just a place to borrow books. According to the Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR), they can play an important public role in times of extreme heat: as accessible, cool space for people without air conditioning or private garden.
In many municipalities, including in Drenthe, libraries are free of charge during the day, often with air conditioning, seats and quiet corners. They are thereby, consciously or unconsciously, a refuge on tropical days. This is not a superfluous luxury, especially for the elderly or people with a narrow stock exchange.
You can also wet your feet without an entrance ticket. In Assen, Meppel, Emmen, Borger and Klazienaveen, among others, you will find fountain squares where children play between spraying water jets. On hot days they are free play paradises that also give parents some air.
Many of those fountains have recently been renewed or moved to central places in shopping areas or next to playgrounds. The municipality of Emmen says that they consciously focus on ‘accessible cooling’, especially for families without a holiday budget.
Not everyone can just go to a terrace or recreational lake, but there is a bench under the trees for everyone. In almost every place you will find a city park or a park where it is just a few degrees cooler due to the shadow of trees.
In Asserbos, the Asserbos is a popular place to cool off during hot days, just like the Steenbergerpark in Hoogeveen. In Emmen, the old trees in the Rensenpark offer shade and tranquility. For people without a garden, such a green place close to home is often the way to catch your breath.
It may sound strange, but also supermarkets are seen by some as a temporary hiding place against the heat. Just stroll through the cooled aisles or sit short at the coffee corner: it offers people without air conditioning a few minutes cooling at home.
This is also apparent from international examples: in Finland, for example, a supermarket was temporarily opened as a ‘cooling center’ during a heat wave. Although we do not yet see that phenomenon in the Netherlands structurally, it does indicate a broader need: people without air conditioning are looking for cooled public spaces even if that means strolling through the supermarket.