Climate change and urban heat islands

Cities are heating up because they are the most vulnerable of all human settlements to climatic impacts. In urban areas, climate change is characterized by more severe temperatures and intense precipitation than in rural or suburban areas. Among the causes of this behaviour, we must acknowledge the urban form and structure's influence over the microclimate, which can strengthen heat waves and change weather patterns. Urban sprawl city settlement models turn spaces taken from suburban rural areas into ‘urban’ ones, creating a high degree of housing fragmentation and consequent territorial infrastructure. This results in relative increases in energy consumption, changes to the use of the soil and a growth in its sealing, increased demand for transport, and environmental pollution. All this can increase the city’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change.