Uploaded on 2015-11-08 by SimonObendorf
![City of Lincoln and Surrounds - Heatmap][1] The greater heat levels indicated on this map overlap with the urbanised and built up areas of the city. There are very strong differences obvious between the heat levels in the city and in the surrounding (largely rural) countryside. The hottest part of the city is the central business core and the spine that correlates with major commercial districts (the north-south High Street) and the light industrial estates along the Tritton Road arterial roadway. To illustrate these differences further, here is a photograph of central Lincoln: ![Central Lincoln (Brayford Pool), Winter][2] And of the surrounding flat rural countryside viewed from the city: ![Lincoln and surrounds][3] As is apparent Lincoln is an historical and largely low-rise urban environment (though with a significant change in elevation through the city centre). Heat is generated through commercial activity, private residential and commercial heating and cooling, transport/automobile use and is both retained and reflected by a large body of water (the Brayford Pool) in the centre of the city. In addition, relatively narrow streetscapes and an increasing tendency to create broad urban canyons (for instance around major arterial roads and with new academic and student housing developments) are arguably contributing to Lincoln's heat island effect. **Measures Proposed** The heat island effect, while real, is relatively moderate in Lincoln's case and probably contributes to ameliorating low temperatures in what is a moderate climate. While this is largely a positive, I would certainly caution against the further "canyonisation" of some of Lincoln's key arterial roads. The intense development of the University of Lincoln campus which has a number of canyons lined by buildings coated with reflective materials also has the possibility of creating local heat island hotspots and should be taken into account in future urban planning and building approval processes. **Policy Making** As far as I am aware, the heat island effect is not currently informing policy making in Lincoln/Lincolnshire. I cannot recall it forming part of development approval processes at a city or county level. While climate sustainability and "smart buildings"/energy usage do form part of the debate, the heat island effect is not something of which policy makers or publics seem particularly seized at present. However, at a national level, there seems to be more interest (probably targeting much larger cities) that drives things like the National Heat Map and the Met Office's research into urban heat islands: http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/8/m/MO_PUP_insert_HEALTH.web.pdf [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14470010787987254.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14470015143804242.jpg [3]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14470015751996061.jpg