Urban Heat Island: Introduction to Mitigation

As population is increasing significantly and our economies become more industrialized, as may result more person have shifted from rural to urban areas. Urbanization is increasing as the people are attracted towards the job opportunities and facilities provided in urban areas. One of the major effect of the urbanization and industrialization is the people living in urban areas, means decrease in vegetation and increase in concrete hard land. "Urban Heat Island" is an urban area having impermeable and concrete land which is warmer than the surrounding area covered by vegetation and green spaces. Permeable surfaces are replaced by impermeable surfaces and materials which are used in buildings and pavement are hard and are non-reflective which absorbs heat and emit later which upsurges the temperature of surrounding and creates microclimate. Use of no reflective surface materials, low albedo materials, hard pavements, less trees and vegetation can cause Urban Heat Island and could increase the intensity of UHI. Planting trees, use of albedo materials and high reflective materials can help in declining the impact of UHI in urban areas. Some planning interventions like, availability of green spaces, height of buildings and width of roads could also help in reducing the intensity of UHI.