Uploaded on 2017-01-17 by HeikeLob

1. Temperature in US cities Selected examples: - Atlanta: up to 16 degrees warmer in city than in nearby rural areas - Detroit.: up to 22 degrees warmer than in nearby rural areas - Cleveland: up to 21 degrees warmer than in nearby rural areas 2. Temperature of my town: Chicago: up to 21 degrees warmer than in nearby rural areas The city has many very high buildings which especially during the hot summer months keeps the warm air between the buildings. The sun and the radiation stays in the rather narrow streets (compared to the heights of the buildings). Although the location at the shore of Lake Michigan allows a constant wind flow it is not enough to compensate the radiation and heat production from air conditioning. As in many other large cities also the car, truck and bus traffic contribute to air and pollution and heat production. The rural area around Chicago is very flat and the populations density decreases by distance away from the city center. Also many rivers and lakes in the surroundings of Chicago contribute to the large difference in temperatures between the City and the rural surroundings. 3. Suggested measures which might have an impact on the UHI for Chicago: When constructing new buildings try to include modern technologies for air conditioning to avoid further heat production during the summer months. In case of renovation older buildings new technologies for air cooling should always be applied if possible. The city could provide building construction regulations or even funding incentives in order to archive a lower degree of heat island effect during summer months. As already initiated, Chicago should focus on further public transportation, on further bike lanes to reduce emissions from cars. The buses should/could be replaced by electric vehicles. Also promoting electric vehicles in general can have an impact on the UHI based on reduced emissions. 4. UHI effect policy making As already mentioned above Chicago is at least promoting environmental friendly commuting (biking and public transportation) Also providing green areas (Parks, trees slog streets) is part of the city policy but can still be improved a lot more. I am not aware of a real political approach to compensate the UHI in the city. The location at lake Michigan to some extend reduces the cold in winter and the heat in summer a little and provides a lot of space for citizens in the summer to cool off. The city offers a large lake shore park area.