CITIES ARE GETTING HOTTER.
The built environment is heating up.
Materials like concrete, asphalt, and brick absorb heat and re-emit it back into the environment.
Urban areas, where these materials are highly concentrated and greenery is limited, become “islands” of higher temperatures relative to outlying rural areas. This is known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) Effect.
THE URBAN HEAT ISLAND EFFECT
The UHI effect impacts everyone by straining energy systems, increasing health risks, and exacerbating climate change. Marginalized communities suffer the most, as they lack resources to adapt.
GREEN GENTRIFICATION
This map overlays property value defined by the Home Owners Loan Corporation with surface temperatures in that area. The HOLC is infamously known for its role in institutionalizing redlining, a discriminatory practice where neighborhoods, often with large minority populations, were designated as high-risk for loan purposes.
This tool combines those two characteristics and shows a heat map of surface temperatures and historic redlining practices.
Areas like the Berkeley Hills have lower surface temperatures connected to higher grades from the HOLC, meaning that this area was deemed more desirable to live.
Areas like Fruitvale, which was labeled the highest risk for loans, have a 20 degree increase in surface temperatures (108 degrees).
The UHI effect is not affecting residents equally, and change must come to equitably green our cities so that we can repair environmental injustices and provide healthier living to all.