This article discusses infrastructure changes cities can make to reduce the effects of extreme heat in urban places. The article touches on the importance of green and blue spaces and changes that can make structures more reflective. It is important for students to understand the urban heat island effect before diving into this topic so students can understand why these changes are vital. The video What Makes Cities So Hot? can help introduce students to urban heat islands. Students can also use the Tree Inequality in Cities: Social Studies Lesson to examine the environmental justice aspects related to green spaces and their distribution in urban areas.
Written By: MIT Environmental Solutions Initiative
The MIT Climate Change Engagement Program, a part of MIT Climate HQ, provides the public with nonpartisan, easy-to-understand, and scientifically-grounded information on climate change and its solutions.
A summer of record-setting heat has reinforced the urgent need to protect ourselves from extreme heatwaves by halting the greenhouse gas emissions that are warming the Earth. But ramping down climate pollution can only stop future heatwaves from getting even worse. In the meantime, many towns and cities are wondering how to make themselves cooler and more livable through the extreme temperatures that have already arrived.
One simple approach that makes a major difference for cities and towns is the creation and maintenance of green spaces, says Randolph Kirchain, principal research scientist at the MIT Materials Research Laboratory. Plants do more than make a place feel more pleasant. Trees provide the cooling relief of shade, and all kinds of plants can lower the temperature of the air around them through the process of “evaporative cooling.” This process takes advantage of the fact that water absorbs heat when it evaporates into water vapor. (It’s the reason that our own evaporating sweat keeps us cool on hot days.) The evaporation of water from plants, or from water features like urban ponds, keeps the whole area around them more comfortable.
