City Tech's Urban Heat Response Featured in Journal
City Tech's work to understand the impact of green spaces to reduce urban heat islands' effects was featured in the latest issue of Sustainable Cities & Society.
Highlights
- Green infrastructure can be evaluated with low-cost remote sensing imagery.
- Quasi-experimental research designs can identify the cooling effects of green roofs.
- Not all green roofs can fully counteract localized warming trends.
Abstract
In the coming decades, millions of urban residents will be exposed to increasingly deadly heat extremes. As an adaptive response to rising temperatures, many cities have begun to install vegetated ”green” roofs, which now vary widely in structure and size, and have generally been shown to have cooling capacity. Yet, little research has been done to differentiate which types of green roofs are most effective at reducing urban heat. We present a method to evaluate the cooling effects associated with green infrastructure that draws on publicly available satellite imagery and open-source software for analysis. Based on a quasi-experimental research design that integrates social and physical science approaches, this technique is able to identify the cooling effects of green infrastructure against background warming trends associated with urbanization and climate change. We demonstrate this method at three green roof sites across the City of Chicago, finding that the study sites with larger, intensive green roofs accompanied by diverse plant species have greater cooling benefits than the extensive, monoculture green roof. Our low-cost method can aid policymakers and planners in empirically evaluating the cooling capacity of green roofs in their own communities.
Download the Study
Download your copy free before November 26, 2021: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210670721006491?dgcid=coauthor
View the full study at Science Direct: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2210670721006491
Learn More
Learn more about this project at City Tech's
Urban Heat Response case study.
About City Tech Collaborative
City Tech Collaborative (City Tech) is an urban solutions accelerator that tackles problems too big for any single sector or organization to solve alone. City Tech’s work uses IoT sensing networks, advanced analytics, and urban design to create scalable, market ready solutions. Current initiatives address mobility, healthy cities, connected infrastructure, and emerging growth opportunities. City Tech was born and raised in Chicago, and every city is a potential partner. Visit www.CityTech.org for more information.
