Urban Heat Islands: How Cities are Warming the Planet

The urban heat island effect is caused due to how cities change the ground surface of the Earth. Unlike in rural or suburban areas, cities do not have much vegetation coverage but instead has a lot of concrete surfaces that absorb more heat than vegetation do. These materials used to build cities are good at retaining heat, yet doesn’t do evapotranspiration such as plants which help cool down the surrounding environment. As a result, cities will usually be hotter than the suburban areas that surround them.

This is not good news for the environment. Increased heat in cities can encourage more air condition use, which leads to more energy consumption and more emissions that accelerate the global climate crisis.

A way to mitigate the urban heat island effect can be to involve more green spaces and vegetation during the planning of cities so that there are more sections of cities which carry out evapotranspiration and help cool down the temperature. Another approach may be to use more reflective materials while constructing buildings instead of concrete ones that absorb more than reflect.