Granada, (EFE).- More than half of Andalusians live in urban hot spots, areas where high temperatures worsen physical and mental health, a figure that has increased due to the replacement of green areas by built-up areas with materials that absorb heat.
Researchers from the University of Granada have verified that more than half of the population of Andalusia lives in areas classified as “urban hot spots”, those spaces that are affected by high temperatures and are related to the phenomenon of the heat island. urban.
The study directed by the professor of the Department of Architectural Graphic Expression and Engineering David Hidalgo García, together with Julián Arco Díaz, has used the Copernicus environmental monitoring and climate change program and the Sentinel 3 satellites of the European Space Agency (ESA). to establish those hot spots for the health of Andalusians.
Green areas for constructions
This is the first study that measures urban hot spots and the level of environmental thermal comfort and is based on the phenomenon of urban climate change called Urban Heat Island (ICU).
According to the results of the investigation, 43% of the area contemplated by subregional development plans falls within the classification of urban hot spots due to high temperatures.
“The importance of this study lies not only in the high surface area classified as a hot zone, but also that it is home to 50% of the population of Andalusia”, pointed out Hidalgo, who has linked the increase in this surface area with the replacement of green areas. by constructions.
Considering the environmental thermal comfort index related to the urban heat island phenomenon, 5% of the population included in the plans resides in areas classified as very bad, while 60% lives in areas classified as bad, which affects physical and mental health.
naturalize the cities
The work has shown that converting rural or green areas into urban areas built with materials with high thermal absorption, such as asphalt or paving, causes increases in temperatures, which produces variations in the local microclimate and harms the health of the inhabitants.
In recent decades, numerous studies have warned that the transformation of the landscape generated by the expansion of urban areas constitutes one of the processes that most accelerates climate change.
This research, the first of its kind in Spanish urban areas, makes it possible to identify the causes that produce these increases in temperature that affect the population and proposes solutions.
The study proposes naturalizing cities and reconverting their landscapes with the aim of increasing urban green infrastructures, controlling unused rural areas or without vegetation, favoring the rehabilitation of buildings in historic centers and using permeable pavements on streets and sidewalks, among others. Other options. EFE