Commentary: Buildings are the cornerstone of responding to extreme heat in cities

As extreme heat intensifies due to global climatic shifts and growing energy demands, there is an urgent need to implement strategies at both the building and urban scale to safeguard public health, improve infrastructure resilience, and address disproportionate impacts of extreme heat on historically overburdened populations. This commentary examines the challenges urban environments face as extreme heat events become more frequent, prolonged, and volatile. It unpacks a range of passive and active measures that can be taken at both the building and community-scale. In addition to technical solutions, it explores how systems thinking approaches can be better applied to align interventions across the built environment. Drawing on existing tools, technologies, and market innovations, this commentary identifies opportunities to better understand market gaps, prioritize community needs, and integrate heat resilience strategies into urban planning approaches, building design initiatives, and community-scale interventions. This paper also provides foundational context for the technical research on extreme heat presented in the subsequent symposium contributions.