Urban Heat Island Unit: Linking Science, Engineering and Society

As cities grow, the natural environment has been transformed from native vegetation into a diverse assemblage of built structures and surfaces. Heat stored during the day in concrete and asphalt slowly radiates back into the environment at night, leading to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon.  The net effect of the UHI in naturally hot climates can be negative for human well-being. The urban poor are most vulnerable to extreme heat, but little is known about how changing urban climates interact with the human-natural systems in neighborhoods across socioeconomic boundaries and racial/ethnic groups.  How can we engage students and teachers in activities about urban heat “riskscapes” to assess the causes and variation in heat-related health hazards of people in different neighborhoods?  How do we create a livable urban environment for ourselves and the organisms that share it?  

In this poster we will share an interdisciplinary unit in which students investigate the causes of UHI by collecting data about the built and natural environment.  Through a variety of field studies and activities, they investigate the consequences of UHI on plants and animals, including themselves. Using a participatory, auto-ethnographic technique called Photovoice, students share their own UHI experiences through photography, and build on their new understanding toward solutions and action.