In recent years, Madrid has witnessed an increasing frequency, duration, and intensity of heat waves, exacerbated in cities by the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. While urban materials and their hygrothermal impact are crucial, addressing heat stress requires going beyond technical solutions to consider thermopolitics: the emerging social organizations, mobilized knowledge, and developed adaptive capacities. Through interventions in Madrid from 2022 to 2023, this study aimed to explore how ground transformation enables new sociomaterial arrangements in three heat-vulnerable communities, fostering collective agency towards heat adaptation. The methodology shifts from site-oriented to ground-oriented, focusing on thermal encounters through vegetation, shade, humidity, and activities. Findings show that community-driven ground transformations foster embodied thermal empowerment, enabling residents, shadows, moisture, and vegetation to co-produce adaptive microclimates and resilient commons.
