Urban Heat
Nature and design choices can strongly affect how comfortable cities feel.
Did you know?
Tree shade often cools people more effectively than many other green features because it directly blocks solar heat from reaching our bodies and surrounding surfaces.
Heat doesn't just make you uncomfortable. It affects how well you can think, move, and recover afterward. That's why researchers don't only measure air temperature. Wet Bulb Globe Temperature (WBGT) combines temperature, humidity, airflow, and radiant heat into a single number that better reflects what a body actually experiences outdoors, closer to how "hot" a space feels than a thermometer alone.
Greenery is one of the few tools that can shift this felt experience, not just the number on a thermometer. By blocking radiant heat, releasing moisture into the air, or simply giving people somewhere shaded to recover. Understanding that gap between measured and felt heat is part of how cities figure out where nature-based cooling matters most, and where it's worth the space it takes up.
How can we bring about more cool spaces?
How can we bring about more cool spaces?Explore more below if you’re interested.
Try it yourself
How hot does it feel?
Which game you play depends on the weather. On a wet day, stay under cover and guess which places feel cooler. On a dry day, head out to three spots and log how each one feels.
