Uploaded on 2015-10-19 by LabLL

![the blue planet in danger][1] **1.  Checking the temperature differences in some US cities** The top 10 cities (and I added some other interessant ones) with the most intense summer urban heat islands over the past 10 years are: Las Vegas 7.3°F (+- 14°C) - Albuquerque 5.9°F - Denver 4.9°F - Portland 4.8°F - Louisville 4.8°F - Washington, D.C. - Kansas City 4.6°F - Columbus 4.4°F (Please note : many Columbus in the USA) - Minneapolis 4.3°F - Seattle 4.1°F - Memphis 3.4°F - *New York 2.7°F* - *Miami 1.7°F* - St. Louis 4.0°F - *Baton Rouge 1.2°F* - *New Orleans 2.2°F* - San Antonio 2.0°F On average across all the 60 studied cities, urban summer temperatures were 2.4°F hotter than rural temperatures. *These towns* are situated not very far from an the ocean. **2. The UHI effects in my area (Geneva Switzerland)** Geneva has a very particular situation (46°12' North, 6°09' East) at the south-western end of the Lake Geneva (also named Lac Léman), where the lake flows back into the Rhône River. It is surrounded by two mountain chains,The Alps (highest 4807m nearby) and the Jura on the west. It’s a Town + a Republic + a Canton of the federal Confédération Helvétique. The city has an area of 15.93 km2 (6.2 sq mi), the canton is 282 km2 (108.9 sq mi), and the antitude is 373 meters (1225 ft) Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 3.4% of the area while housing and buildings made up 46.2% and transportation infrastructure 25.8%, while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 15.7%. All the forested land area is covered with heavy forests. Of the agricultural land, 0.3% is used for growing crops. Of the water in the municipality, 0.2% is in lakes and 2.9% is in rivers and streams (*Informations : Swiss Federal Statistical Office-Land Use Statistics 2009)* ![Geneva the "little-big town"][2] THIS YEAR : The highest temperature was recorded in Genève–Cointrin (The airport) was 39.7 °C (103.5 °F) in July 2015, and the lowest temperature recorded was -20.0°C (-4.0°F) in February 1956. Some further informations about the UHI effect : - the World Meteorological Organization - has its headquarters here at Geneva [https://www.wmo.int/pages/about/index_en.html][3] and is a member of the UNO - publishes informations about… the entire world, and not specially about Geneva! - The Solar Energy and Building Physics Laboratory (LESO-PB), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland published an interessant case study of Rue des Maraîchers in Geneva, applying a methodology to approximate the UHI effect. [http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/198754/files/013-018.pdf][4] As already said, Geneva has a real special geographical situation, isn’t it? Even there are here some UHI effects too, a lot of other towns are presenting much more serious situations! ![a Town + a Republic + a Canton][5] **3) The measures I would propose are :** The implementation - in new areas or old areas in rehabilitation phasis - with solutions such as : **ON SITE AND ON PROJECTS** Cool Pavements Cool Roofs Green Roofs Green walls Green Terraces **FOSTER AND ENCOURAGE** Self cooling buildings and Trombe walls Walking/pedestrians areas with trees, turf and grass Water in form of public fountains, urban foggers, water basins, Cycling highways and pedestrians floors Very limited access to cars and trucks **EDUCATION** in schools to children to adults, with exhibitions explaining the situation to the people coming here, working here, and living here. **4) Policy concerning UHI effect in my area :** Even if Geneva is a "little-big town", there are **ACTIONS TAKEN AT GENEVA :** Cantonal Master Plan for the Republic and Canton of Geneva Renaturation of the rivers, countryside conservation, etc… [http://ge.ch/amenagement/plan-directeur-cantonal-2030][6] Rediscovering the rivers in a densely built urban zone ![Rediscovering the rivers][7] **ACTIONS TAKEN in THE Helvetic Confederation :** **MAKE THE INFORMATION PUBLIC :** ProClim Forum for Climate and Global Change (Bern) [http://proclimweb.scnat.ch/portal/ressources/3359.pdf][8] **EVALUATE THE SITUATION :** moodCity Reto Camponovo, Peter Gallinelli, Pascal Thomann & all. _hepia, Haute école du paysage, d’ingénierie et d’architecture de Genève. Hes-so. Laboratoire énergie, environnement, architecture (LEEA). Institut inPACT.
Rue de la Prairie 4, CH-1202 Genève [http://www.bauinnovationen.ch/fileadmin/ablage/Bauinnovationen/PDF_Artikel_Bauinnovationen/12_Camponovo_moodCity.pdf][9] **ADAPTATION STUDIES :** First part of the Federal Council’s strategy. Adopted on 2 March 2012 Challenges posed by effects of climate change - Greater heat stress in agglomerations and cities [http://www.bafu.admin.ch/publikationen/publikation/01673/index.html?lang=en&download=NHzLpZig7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1ad1IZn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCGfIJ_gWym162dpYbUzd,Gpd6emK2Oz9aGodetmqaN19XI2IdvoaCVZ,s-.pdf][10] ![Challenges posed by effects of climate change][11] [1]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14452719031908247.jpg [2]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/1445271972722178.jpg [3]: https://www.wmo.int/pages/about/index_en.html [4]: http://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/198754/files/013-018.pdf [5]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14452720173620783.jpg [6]: http://ge.ch/amenagement/plan-directeur-cantonal-2030 [7]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14452721152397057.jpg [8]: http://proclimweb.scnat.ch/portal/ressources/3359.pdf [9]: http://www.bauinnovationen.ch/fileadmin/ablage/Bauinnovationen/PDF_Artikel_Bauinnovationen/12_Camponovo_moodCity.pdf [10]: http://www.bafu.admin.ch/publikationen/publikation/01673/index.html?lang=en&download=NHzLpZig7t,lnp6I0NTU042l2Z6ln1ad1IZn4Z2qZpnO2Yuq2Z6gpJCGfIJ_gWym162dpYbUzd,Gpd6emK2Oz9aGodetmqaN19XI2IdvoaCVZ,s-.pdf [11]: https://edxuploads.s3.amazonaws.com/14452721878421626.jpg