Tens of millions of people who live or work in the urban areas of America’s largest cities are exposed to significantly higher temperatures than those who live in suburban or rural areas, according to a newly released analysis by the environmental justice nonprofit Climate Central.
The cause of the higher temperatures is the human-built environment in cities — miles of concrete and blacktop, a lack of vegetation and shade trees, tall boxy buildings that block breezes and structures that absorb and then radiate heat. The analysis focuses on 65 major U.S. cities, and the 50 million people who live in those cities, and divides them into subsets of census tract maps, often no more than a few blocks. The analysis offers a granular look at what are known as “urban heat islands,” essentially hot spots where temperatures soar and millions suffer because of the surrounding hardscape. The temperature gap between suburban neighborhoods and urban areas continues to widen.
