scholarly journals Green to Grey: An Urban Heat Assessment of Kumasi, Ghana

Author(s):  
C. Koranteng ◽  
B. Simons ◽  
D. Nyame-Tawiah

The current study assessed the city of Kumasi, Ghana to find out the extent of urban heat and the views of the populace about their climate. Both the subjective and objective approaches were utilized in the study. Secondary data from the Meteorological Survey Department in Kumasi covering temperature and relative humidity values for a 42- year period (1976 - 2018) was retrieved and used in the analysis to find the trend of urban heat phenomenon. Alongside, a developed questionnaire had a response from 2,083 people. The findings reveal among other things that there’s a 2ºC rise in mean annual temperature from 1976 to 2018. Additionally, the data shows that the past 4 years have had high mean temperature values. Subjectively, 1, 271 residence representing 61% voted in the “slightly warm-hot” range on the thermal sensation scale. Majority of the respondents across all the ages indicated how uncomfortable their outdoor spaces have become in recent times. 36% of the respondents attributed this discomfort to the lack of greenery with over 95% across all ages indicating that Kumasi city has lost its greenery and green spaces to buildings and other infrastructural activities. Whiles climate change and global warming have both become a global menace, the onus lies on individual countries and for that matter, various city authorities to make a conscious effort in planning our cities with greenery to alleviate the menace we already find ourselves. A conscious effort to retrieve and restore encroached green spaces must be undertaken by the city authorities while the parks and gardens division ought to be efficiently resourced to manage our green spaces.

Urban Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Georgios-Rafail Kouklis ◽  
Athena Yiannakou

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of urban morphology to the formation of microclimatic conditions prevailing within urban outdoor spaces. We studied the compact form of a city and examined, at a detailed, street plan level, elements related to air temperature, urban ventilation, and the individual’s thermal comfort. All elements examined are directly affected by both the urban form and the availability of open and green spaces. The field study took place in a typical compact urban fabric of an old city center, the city center of Thessaloniki, where we investigated the relationship between urban morphology and microclimate. Urban morphology was gauged by examining the detailed street plan, along with the local building patterns. We used a simulation method based on the ENVI-met© software. The findings of the field study highlight the fact that the street layout, the urban canyon, and the open and green spaces in a compact urban form contribute decisively both to the creation of the microclimatic conditions and to the influence of the bioclimatic parameters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wesam M. Elbardisy ◽  
Mohamed A. Salheen ◽  
Mohammed Fahmy

In the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, studies focused on the relationship between urban planning practice and climatology are still lacking, despite the fact that the latter has nearly three decades of literature in the region and the former has much more. However, such an unfounded relationship that would consider urban sustainability measures is a serious challenge, especially considering the effects of climate change. The Greater Cairo Region (GCR) has recently witnessed numerous serious urban vehicular network re-development, leaving the city less green and in need of strategically re-thinking the plan regarding, and the role of, green infrastructure. Therefore, this study focuses on approaches to the optimization of the urban green infrastructure, in order to reduce solar irradiance in the city and, thus, its effects on the urban climatology. This is carried out by studying one of the East Cairo neighborhoods, named El-Nozha district, as a representative case of the most impacted neighborhoods. In an attempt to quantify these effects, using parametric simulation, the Air Temperature (Ta), Mean Radiant Temperature (Tmrt), Relative Humidity (RH), and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) parameters were calculated before and after introducing urban trees, acting as green infrastructure types that mitigate climate change and the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Our results indicate that an optimized percentage, spacing, location, and arrangement of urban tree canopies can reduce the irradiance flux at the ground surface, having positive implications in terms of mitigating the urban heat island effect.


2020 ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Joanna Klimowicz

XXI wiek przyczynił się do rozwoju nowych, innowacyjnych technologii w wielu dziedzinach życia, m.in. w medycynie, lotnictwie, inżynierii molekularnej czy budownictwie. Współczesne technologie rozwijają się bardzo szybko, przynosząc rozmaite udogodnienia współczesnym człowiekowi. Jednakże XXI wiek przyniósł nam też niszczycielskie działanie narastających anomalii pogodowych związanych z pogłębiającymi się zmianami klimatu. Żyjąc w dobie konsumpcjonizmu, powinniśmy się zastanowić w jaki sposób przyczyniamy się do tego stanu? Czy my współcześnie żyjący możemy wpłynąć na poprawę naszej egzystencji? Czy współcześnie proponowane rozwiązania są w stanie ochronić nas przed wieloma negatywnymi skutkami zmian klimatu? Czy możemy wpłynąć na wzrost zanieczyszczenia powietrza, wzrost temperatury oraz związane z nimi narastające zjawiska takie jak powodzie czy pożary? Mieszkańcy współczesnych miast stykają się z wieloma tymi niedogodnościami. My jako architekci i urbaniści powinniśmy reagować i wprowadzać takie rozwiązania, które będą sprzyjały poprawie warunków życia. Tematem artykuły jest przedstawienie wybranych przykładów rozwiązań zastosowania zieleni, wpływającej na niwelowanie niekorzystnych warunków klimatycznych panujących w miasta. Odpowiednio projektowana zieleń, zarówno w skali urbanistycznej jak i architektonicznej miasta, przyczynia się do niwelowanie Miejskiej Wyspy Ciepła, wpływa na poprawę komfortu zamieszkania, jest stabilizatorem temperatury oraz wilgotności. Badania kamerą termowizyjną wykazują w jaki sposób zastosowanie zieleni przyczynia się do obniżania temperatury w zabudowie śródmiejskiej. Wyniki badań stanowić uzupełnienie prowadzonych analiz związanych z obserwacją zachowań termicznych zabudowy miejskiej. Możliwość odniesienia wyników wpłynie na świadomość mieszkańców jest istotne jest stosowanie odpowiednich materiałów budowalnych oraz zieleni miejskiej jako jednych z elementów poprawiających komfort życia w mieście. The problem of the overheating of twenty-first century cities (UHI) versus greenery The 21st century has contributed to the development of new, innovative technologies in many areas of life, including medicine, aviation, molecular engineering and construction. Modern technologies are developing very quickly, bringing various conveniences to modern man. However, the 21st century has brought us also the destructive effect of growing weather anomalies associated with deepening climate change. Living in the age of consumerism, we should think about how we are contributing to this state? Can we, living today, improve our existence? Can the solutions proposed nowadays protect us from many negative effects of climate change? Can we influence the increase in air pollution, temperature rise and the associated growing phenomena such as floods and fires? Citizens of modern cities are facing many of these inconveniences. We, as architects and urban planners, should react and implement solutions that will improve living conditions. The subject of the articles is to present selected examples of solutions for the use of greenery, which will help to eliminate unfavorable climate conditions in cities. Properly designed greenery, both on the urban and architectural scale of the city, contributes to the leveling of the Urban Heat Island, improves the comfort of living, and is a stabilizer of temperature and humidity. Research with a thermal imaging camera shows how the use of greenery contributes to lowering the temperature in downtown buildings. The results of the research are a supplement to the analyses carried out in connection with the observation of thermal behavior of urban development. The possibility of referencing the results will influence the residents’ awareness. It is important to use appropriate building materials and greenery as one of the elements improving the comfort of living in the city.


Author(s):  
Ngo Hoai Son ◽  
Nguyen Van Hoa

As severely affected by climate change, Ho Chi Minh City needs to focus on developing human resource for its climate change response policy. This is because human resource is a key factor fora successful response. The paper uses secondary data from the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Ho Chi Minh City to analyze the current situation of human resources for climate change of the city, which is devided into 02 main groups as core and complementary groups. The data show that, although the core group is high qualified, it lacks staffs with deep expertise in policy and climate change. For the complementary group, the city has not focused on training in both short and long term. In order to improve the effectiveness of climate change response in the coming years, Ho Chi Minh City needs to implement at least 03 solutions: (01) recruiting additional staffs with expertise in policies and climate change; (02) promote training for the core personnels; and (03) statistics, build and implement in short and long-term training plans for complementary staffs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-71
Author(s):  
Joseph Muiruri Njoroge ◽  
Beate MW Ratter ◽  
Lucy Atieno ◽  
Innocent M Mugabe

This paper attempts to provide an empirical application of the enhanced Regional Tourism Sustainable Adaptation Framework using a case study of Mombasa Kenya. Climate variability is a challenge to tourism destinations, especially coastal and Island destinations, categories under which Mombasa, our study site falls under. Mombasa has limited capacity to adapt to climate change considering its socio economic conditions and weak institutions, thus making it necessary to explore the possible sustainable pathways for the city using the enhanced Regional Tourism Sustainable Adaptation Framework. Earlier frameworks for tourism adaptation to climate change lacked focus on regional dynamics as well as sustainability aspects, and their implementation pose the risk of mal adaptation to some extent. Using secondary data and data from interviews with tourism stakeholders in Mombasa, the enhanced Regional Tourism Sustainable Adaptation Framework guides our assessment of vulnerability and resilience of the destination, as well as identification of region specific adaptation options for the city within the context of sustainable practice. Based on climate change perceived impacts, risks and vulnerability various adaptation options are presented and discussed as provided in literature. The usefulness of the framework in guiding regional tourism destination managers and policy makers in their pursuit for a regional adaptation options within the tourism sector in order to reduce destinations vulnerability, increase resilience and take advantage of opportunities presented by climate change is underscored.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilal Ighil agha

<p>In the 21st century, where problems related to the city are legion (climate change, disease, depression, crime, etc.), urban ecology promises to provide concrete and effective solutions to enable humanity to live and the planet to breathe.</p><p>In a southern metropolis such as Algiers, these seemingly endless urban problems are becoming more acute due to a galloping population and an unbridled expansion of the urban fabric. This expansion is often at the expense of green spaces.</p><p>In this way, we worked on methodologies that will enable us to quantify the layout, condition and influence of these green spaces and to develop more appropriate management plans to optimize there functions.</p><p>We also carried out a preliminary study for the landscape analysis and spatialization of urban plants, to be able to deepen the study later and create an interrogative spatial database to help decision-making.</p>


2011 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 261-270 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Schneider ◽  
C. Balzer ◽  
M. Buttstädt ◽  
K. Eßer ◽  
S. Ginski ◽  
...  

Abstract. The research initiative CITY 2020+ assesses the risks and opportunities for residents in urban built environments under projected demographic and climate change for the year 2020 and beyond, using the city of Aachen as a case study. CITY 2020+ develops strategies, options and tools for planning and developing sustainable future city structures. The investigation focuses on how urban environment, political structure and residential behaviour can best be adapted, with attention to the interactions among structural, political, and sociological configurations and their impacts on human health. The interdisciplinary research is organized in three clusters. Within the first cluster, strategies of older people exposed to heat stress, and their networks as well as environmental health risks according to atmospheric conditions are examined. The second cluster addresses governance questions, urban planning and building technologies as well as spatial patterns of the urban heat island. The third cluster includes studies on air quality related to particulate matter and a historical perspective of city development concerning environmental issues and climate variability. However, it turns out that research topics that require an interdisciplinary approach are best addressed not by pre-structuring the work into related sub-projects but through combining them according to shared methodological approaches. Examples illustrating this rather practical approach within ongoing research are presented in this paper.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 59-64
Author(s):  
Anggun Aisatun Zahroh ◽  
Puji Muniarty ◽  
Julaiha Julaiha

Natural disasters and inflation that occurred in the city of Bima caused economic growth to slow down and cause the impact of social inequality that causes poverty. This study aims to analyze the effect of independent variables on the dependent variable. The independent variable in this study is economic growth while the dependent variable is poverty in the City of Bima for the period 2012-2018. The sample in this study is economic growth in the form of GDRP data based on constant prices and poverty over the past 7 years, from 2012 to 2018. The data used in this study are in the form of a list of tables on economic growth in the form of GDRP based on constant prices and poverty during 7 years obtained from the Central Statistics Agency office in Bima City. The data used are secondary data and the method used is simple linear regression analysis, simple correlation coefficient, simple linear determination and t test (2 parties) using SPSS Version 21.0 to obtain a comprehensive picture of the relationship between one variable with another variable. The results showed that economic growth had no effect and was not significant on poverty in the Bima city.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 106-111
Author(s):  
Rajesh Gopinath ◽  
Aditya Banerjee ◽  
S. Sachin ◽  
Prakhar Tiwari ◽  
Sunny Wilson

Abstract Blessed with a salubrious climate, the city of Bengaluru over the past few decades has constantly witnessed thermal discomfort owing to several Urban Heat islands that have mushroomed within the city. The subsequent increase in builtup area, consequent loss of productive agricultural lands/green zones, encroachment of surface water bodies coupled with the ill-preparedness of decision makers to handle the demand for land have invariably crumbled the natural micro-climate of the city. In this present research, an attempt has been made to detect the distribution of Urban Heat Islands in Bengaluru City by conducting real-time survey at 100 observatories marked across the entire urban & rural locations; with thermohygrometers as per the W.M.O. guidelines. The study confirmed the violation of the Human Thermal Comfort Range in 9, 83, 98, 99, 98 and 80 observatories for the monitoring at 6 AM, 9 AM, 12 PM, 3 PM, 6 PM and 9 PM respectively.


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