Consequences Of Urban Heat Island: What Is Urbanization?

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Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research background
One of the most obvious consequences of anthropogenic activities in urban areas is urbanization. Nowadays, more people are vulnerable to urbanization problems as the ever increasing urban population. In 2015, 53% of the world population (7.34 billion) and 77% of individuals in developed countries (1.25 billion) lived in urban areas (Population Reference Bureau, 2015), and it is expected to be 67% of the world population by 2050 (United Nations, 2012). The urbanization has improved our lives significantly, but it also brings about many problems to the environment and society, such as global warming, air pollution, traffic congestion. In most big cities, urbanization has produced striking changes in the surface and atmospheric properties, which subsequently lead to climate changes involuntarily (Changnon 1981; Cotton and Pielke 1995). It could radically alter the physical properties of Earth's surface, and may also affect the thermal, radiative and aerodynamic character of the surface (Oke 1987).

Urban heat island (UHI) is one major phenomena observed in urban areas, in which surface air temperature in an urban area is higher than in …show more content…

building materials), and heat releases from anthropogenic activities (i.e. population migration). Rizwan et al (2008) summarized various factors including controllable and uncontrollable factors that cause UHI, as shown in Fig.1.1. The factors could further be categorized as the temporary effect variables (i.e. air speed, cloud cover), permanent effect variables (i.e. green areas, building material, sky view factor), cyclic effect variables (i.e. solar radiations, anthropogenic heat sources). The urban surface is heated by solar radiations and complicated urban built structures. During this heat exchange, the fundamental heat transfer and energy conservation procedures perform the

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