As the world heats up with climate change, urban areas with their dense habitations, traffic congestions, higher pollution levels and excessive cement and concrete invariably heat up more than rural areas. What is less realized is that within a single city certain areas can heat up much more than others, and the difference can be as high as 10 degrees Celsius, or even more. As several recent research studies have shown, these hot spots are invariably the more crowded, less green areas inhabited by the poorer sections.
A study by the University of California—San Diego, which covered 1056 counties in the USA revealed that low income neighborhoods and communities with higher black, Hispanic and Asian populations experienced more heat than wealthier and predominantly white neighborhoods in a vast majority of USA counties. ( Science News, July 13 2021).
By Bharat Dogra
14/04/2022