Get Sust! Issue 34

Climate modelling shows how parks can cool cities

‘Green infrastructure’ – a.k.a. trees, parks, and green roofs – can play a valuable role in keeping our cities cool in the hotter summers we’re likely to face in future, say researchers in Manchester.

The team from the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester used their own city as a case study. First they gained a thorough understanding of the make-up of Manchester’s urban environment using Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping, then they used the data on types of vegetation, hard surfaces, buildings and so on, to model the local climate. Once this was achieved, they could then vary the parameters to find out what would happen when there was more or less parkland or other forms of vegetation (such as buildings with green roofs).

Whereas we have known since Victorian times (and earlier) that parks and gardens have positive benefits for the urban environment, this study is particularly useful because the impacts have been quantified and the model can be replicated for other cities.

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‘Adapting Cities for Climate Change: The Role of the Green Infrastructure’ by S.E. Gill, J.F. Handley, A.R. Ennos and S. Pauleit was published in Built Environment, Vol. 33 No. 1, pp 115–133; see www.atypon-link.com