Member-only story
The Ingenious Ways Northern Metropolises Keep Their People Warm
Massive effort put into allowing people to get out of the cold
There are few things as miserable as plodding down a busy city street in cold, wet weather. You know, the kind of weather where cold rain splatters your eyes, and the wind cuts through your coat. You can’t use your phone because you’re wearing gloves and everything is all wet. All you can do is keep your head down and hope you don’t bump into someone else walking with their heads down. Eventually, you make it to your destination, where you can soak up the warmth and shake off the outdoors. There are dozens of cities in the world in which this kind of weather is common for multiple months per year. (I would never live in such a place, but I have family who do.)
If this sounds horrible, it is. And you are not alone in thinking that. That is why, unbeknownst to many, northern cities have invested millions of dollars to create ingenious ways of keeping their citizens warm during these awful months. No one wants to walk down a cold city street in sleet so city managers from Japan to Canada have created systems in which people can traverse large metropolises without ever stepping foot outside.
This was a rabbit hole that I didn’t know existed, but I still leaped in with both feet. I have…
