Hello! So I was trying to sleep last night but I just couldn’t because it was so warm!! I know it is suppose to be rainy season now but I was sweating buckets!! So I was just looking through and I found this article regarding this phenomenon called ‘Urban Heat Island’ or UHI for short. This phenomenon occurs when natural land containing trees and vegetation are removed and replaced with buildings, houses, roads etc (Reduce Urban Heat Island Effect | US EPA, 2020). Not only does Singapore experience it, but many Asian cities experience this too! In a 2012 study done in Bangkok, it was discovered that there the ‘maximum temperature difference between urban and rural areas was 7 degrees Celsius’ and has been increasing every year since (Board, 2020).

The effect of Urban heat island (UHI), (Fuladlu, Riza and Ilkan, 2018)

Vegetation and trees are important as they carry out transpiration and this causes water loss to be possible via evaporation. Allowing for the removal of latent heat in the day. Concrete surfaces are rougher and darker coloured (Fuladlu, Riza and Ilkan, 2018). Hence, in the day, buildings and pavements absorb solar radiation and it is then expelled back into the atmosphere at night (Board, 2020). This leads to a rise in temperature of the ambient air in urbanised areas. Here’s a short video for you to watch!

Besides, the replacement of natural elements with man-made structures. The anthropogenic heat that is generated by human energy consumption also contributes to UHI. Factories, vehicle movement and electricity generation all contribute to the rising temperatures in cities as all the energy consumed is also transformed into heat energy (Shahmohamadi et al., 2011).

The increase in urban temperature due to UHI can lead to many negative impacts on the human physiology. Higher temperatures can lead to increased stress on the human body and may even result in heat stroke. Not only that, the increase in temperature can provide  more favourable environment for photochemical reactions to occur to create smog or even higher incidence of disease (Shahmohamadi et al., 2011).

I was shocked when I read about the vast effects of the increase in temperature in cities. This phenomenon just goes to show that the increase urbanisation does not only lead to the destruction of the environment, but on human health too!! Thank you for reading today’s blogpost and I hope whenever you feel like it is too warm in your room at night, you can understand it is due to UHI.

Reference:

Board, J., 2020. Hot in the city: Rising night temperatures a potentially major health issue in Asian metropolises. CNA, [online] Available at: <https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/urban-heat-island-asia-bangkok-singapore-climate-change-health-13098858> [Accessed 5 October 2020].

Fuladlu, K., Riza, M. and Ilkan, M., 2018. HE EFFECT OF RAPID URBANIZATION ON THE PHYSICAL MODIFICATION OF URBAN AREA. Conference: The 5th International Conference on Architecture and Built Environment with AWARDs S.ARCH 2018At: VENICE / ITALY, [online] Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326316773_THE_EFFECT_OF_RAPID_URBANIZATION_ON_THE_PHYSICAL_MODIFICATION_OF_URBAN_AREA> [Accessed 5 October 2020].

Shahmohamadi, P., Che-Ani, A., Etessam, I., Maulud, K. and Tawil, N., 2011. Healthy Environment: The Need to Mitigate Urban Heat Island Effects on Human Health. Procedia Engineering, [online] 20, pp.61-70. Available at: <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877705811029481> [Accessed 5 October 2020].

US EPA. 2020. Reduce Urban Heat Island Effect | US EPA. [online] Available at: <https://www.epa.gov/green-infrastructure/reduce-urban-heat-island-effect#:~:text=%22Urban%20heat%20islands%22%20occur%20when,heat%2Drelated%20illness%20and%20mortality.> [Accessed 5 October 2020].

Image/ Video Reference:

Fuladlu, K., Riza, M. and Ilkan, M., 2018. HE EFFECT OF RAPID URBANIZATION ON THE PHYSICAL MODIFICATION OF URBAN AREA. Conference: The 5th International Conference on Architecture and Built Environment with AWARDs S.ARCH 2018At: VENICE / ITALY, [online] Available at: <https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326316773_THE_EFFECT_OF_RAPID_URBANIZATION_ON_THE_PHYSICAL_MODIFICATION_OF_URBAN_AREA> [Accessed 5 October 2020].

The urban heat island effect. 2016. Youtube: The Age & Sydney Morning Herald. Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4SihdPRRMPI&ab_channel=TheAge%26SydneyMorningHerald>

Feature Image:

The Conversation, 2018. Hot Hot Heat.. [image] Available at: <https://theconversation.com/making-cities-cooler-is-a-no-brainer-so-why-are-we-doing-so-little-about-it-95607> [Accessed 5 October 2020].