Towards mapping the risk for urban heat island: new methods for the analysis of the urban environment

Urban environment is characterized by some typical features: high density of population and buildings, high energy consumption and shortage of green areas. A main consequence is the Urban Heat Island phenomenon (UHI) that is the systematic higher air temperature of urban environment with respect to rural one. Depending on the climate type, UHI may be welcome (in winter it may reduce heating loads) or, conversely, in warmer climate may increase cooling loads and also mortality rates. UHI has been studied worldwide (Athens, London, Berlin, Vancouver, Montreal, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong for example) since the sixties of the past century. In Italy, only few studies are available for some big cities like Bologna, Milan, Florence and Rome. Very few data are available concerning the presence of the urban heat island phenome non in medium size cities, the most diffuse in Italy (Modena and Trento for example), none in the Veneto Region in the North East of Italy. In this paper the very first activities directly developed by the authors’ research group of the University of Padua within the frame of the European Project “UHI” are described, concerning both experimental measurements, data analysis and simulation.