You can tell a great city by how easy it is to spend an afternoon there.
Can you refill a bottle of water? Find somewhere to sit in the shade? Use a clean public toilet? Pause for a few minutes without feeling you have to buy a coffee?
As London experiences longer, hotter summers, these questions are becoming less about convenience and more about whether the city works for everyone.
This week’s heatwave has shone a spotlight on one of London’s quieter pieces of civic infrastructure: the growing network of more than 100 public drinking fountains installed through the Mayor of London’s partnership with Thames Water, alongside thousands of free refill locations across the capital.
The fountains are welcome. But they also point to a much bigger conversation.
What does it take to make London somewhere people can comfortably spend time, not just pass through?
The city between destinations
Much of London’s infrastructure is designed to help us move efficiently from A to B. We invest in stations, roads, cycle lanes and pavements because movement matters.
But cities also need to support staying.
The moments when grandparents take grandchildren to the park. When office workers eat lunch outside. When tourists wander without an itinerary. When someone recovering from illness needs somewhere to rest during a short walk. When runners, delivery riders and street cleaners need somewhere to refill a water bottle.
These everyday moments rarely make the headlines, yet they shape whether a city feels welcoming.
Places such as Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park show what this looks like in practice. Alongside generous planting and public spaces, visitors can find seating, drinking water and public facilities that make it somewhere families can comfortably spend an entire day rather than simply pass through.
At King’s Cross, the public realm has been designed with the same philosophy. The fountains, seating, trees and green spaces encourage people to linger, meet friends and enjoy the city. One of the best examples is the playful water feature at Coal Drops Yard. Conceived as a piece of public art, it has become something even more valuable. On a warm day, children run through the jets, parents stop to watch, people gather on the surrounding steps and strangers briefly share the same space. It is a reminder that the best public spaces often succeed because they invite simple, joyful everyday activity, not because they are monumental.
That is not accidental.
It is good city-making.
The overlooked infrastructure of comfort
It is easy to think of drinking fountains simply as an environmental initiative that reduces single-use plastic bottles. They certainly do that.
But their real significance is much broader.
Urban designers often talk about social infrastructure: the libraries, community centres and public spaces that help communities meet and thrive. This is something slightly different. It is the infrastructure that allows people to remain comfortably in public space in the first place.
As The London Society trustee Clare Delmar recently observed, some of the biggest improvements to everyday life come not from grand projects but from paying attention to the “low-hanging fruit” of city-making: the simple, practical interventions that make places happier, healthier and easier to use.
Drinking fountains, public toilets, benches, shade, mature trees and accessible seating all form part of the same system. Together, they create London’s infrastructure of comfort.
None of these pieces of infrastructure is remarkable on its own. Their power comes from working together.
A bench without shade becomes difficult to use during a heatwave. Drinking water without nearby toilets creates another problem. Beautiful public spaces without places to sit discourage people from staying very long.
Individually they are small interventions.
Collectively they determine whether London feels generous or exhausting.
The dignity infrastructure
At The London Society, this conversation feels familiar.
For several years we have campaigned for better public toilets across the capital because we believe they are not a luxury but an essential part of a civilised city.
Westminster City Council’s refurbishment of the Parliament Street public toilets is a good example of what can be achieved. Rather than treating them as a hidden utility, the project combines accessible facilities with thoughtful architecture and public art, recognising that even the most everyday infrastructure contributes to how people experience the city.
The same principle applies far beyond toilets.
Older people may decide not to leave home during hot weather if they cannot rely on finding a toilet or somewhere to rest. Parents think about where they can refill children’s water bottles. People living with long-term health conditions often plan journeys around access to public facilities. For many Londoners, these are not occasional concerns but everyday considerations.
The absence of these essentials quietly excludes people from public life.
That is why toilets, drinking water, seating and shade should all be seen as parts of the same conversation. Together they create what might best be described as London’s dignity infrastructure: the practical features that allow everyone to enjoy the city with confidence.
Designing for the climate London already has
London is already adapting to a warmer climate. Much of that conversation focuses, understandably, on major infrastructure, from flood defences to energy systems.
Those investments matter.
But some of the most important adaptations happen at street level.
It means planting trees that provide meaningful shade rather than simply decoration. Designing parks where people can comfortably spend time throughout the day. Ensuring drinking fountains are reliable and easy to find. Providing enough seating for people to pause and rest. Maintaining clean, accessible public toilets across town centres, parks and transport hubs.
None of these measures will solve climate change.
Together, however, they help London adapt to the climate it now has.
Creating a more liveable London does not always require billion-pound projects. Sometimes it means getting the small things right, the everyday pieces of civic infrastructure that quietly determine whether people feel comfortable, welcome and able to enjoy their city.
A city designed for staying
London often measures itself by the projects that dominate the skyline.
Yet a hotter city may ultimately be judged by something much smaller.
Not by the tallest tower.
But by whether an older Londoner feels confident enough to walk to the shops on a hot afternoon. Whether a child can refill a bottle while playing in the park. Whether someone visiting the city knows they can find a toilet, a bench and some shade without having to spend money.
The growing network of drinking fountains is a welcome step.
The challenge now is to think more broadly.
Because the real test of a liveable city is not simply how efficiently people can move through it.
It is whether people of every age, income and ability can comfortably spend time in it.
