Urban heat islands and associated effects on thermal comfort
Student name: Mr Kallol Jyoti Borah
Guide: Dr Nithiyanandam Yogeswaran
Year of completion: 2017
Host Organisation: TERI University
Abstract: Urban Heat Island (UHI) is quite a common phenomenon in the urban landscapes today and is
being caused by several factor which come together to intensify it. Most common reasons are
heat released due to energy consumption, change in urban morphology due to the gradual
replacement of green spaces and wetlands by residential and industrial structures with
impermeable surfaces. Congested and vertical expansion of urban spaces results in the
formation of urban canyons over streets that fail to carry out adequate air circulation. The air
being unable to circulate maintains higher temperature than adjoining areas making it
unbearable for the residents. The poor and homeless are worst affected because they have even
lesser means of protecting themselves from the rising heat. In this study a vulnerability
mapping of one of the highly stressed districts have been carried out. Of the various revenue
districts, the satellite images suggested the occurrence of more hotspots within the South-
Western revenue district than any other. Eight out of the twelve registered Jhuggi Jhonpri
Clusters (JJC) have been surveyed to understand the various problems that the residents face
in the context of impacts of UHI. Such areas lack basic amenities like water, sanitation,
drainage, electricity etc. Unhygienic living conditions, poorly built settlements, low income
and educational deficiency add up to counter the adaptive capacity of the people. These
settlements have been indexed so as to compare the various indicators of exposure, sensitivity
and resilience towards the possible impacts of UHIs. The study also revolves around the
assessment of thermal comfort in these areas. Measures of comfort and causal factors of UHIs
tend to share a relation and are effectively observable in case of the multiple-scenario
assessments. It is a crucial domain to be researched that can only direct us towards
sustainable habitats and building more resilient and productive human resources.
