Manchester, summer 2061. Glass towers crowd the inner ring road of the city and are beaten by the sun, shimmering at the end of tramlines like a desert mirage. Their residents wake up and live in darkness, blotting their floor-to-ceiling windows with curtains, having grown resentful of the panoramic views they bought their flats for.
By then, Manchester is forecast to see an average of 42 days a year where temperatures exceed 25°C, more than twice as many it is expected to experience between 2021-2039. However, many of the buildings built in recent years in Manchester are already overheating, with temperatures reaching as high as 37°C, as in 2022.
All of this raises a question. Are the skyscrapers beginning to line the city fit to survive a changing climate?
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