Cool city climate
Our cities are growing continuously and are home to more and more people. This growth leads to more and more sealed surfaces and the loss of natural areas. This disrupts the natural energy and water balance. As a result, the temperatures in our cities are higher than those in the surrounding areas, which is known as the urban heat island effect. At the same time, the Earth's climate is also changing. The global rise in temperature is changing the climate system and extreme events such as droughts, heavy rainfall and heatwaves are becoming more frequent.
New concepts must be developed, implemented and optimised so that a city can prepare itself against the effects of climate change. As part of the cool-INN project, the park in front of the exhibition centre in Innsbruck was redesigned. This park represents a new concept in many respects. The different surfaces, for lingering, cycling and walking, are permeable to varying degrees. This allows rainwater to seep through these surfaces and recharge the surrounding vegetation and groundwater. At the same time, the material used reduces the temperatures on the surface. Due to the availability of water, both in the ground and on the surface along newly constructed channels and a central well, the air layer above is also cooled. This concept thus creates a more pleasant local climate, especially in summer.
However, as this concept also needs to be developed further, ongoing investigations in the form of measurements, such as surface temperature, but also more complicated ones, such as the human comfort temperature or the energy and water exchange between the surface and the air layer above, are taking place and are contributing to a better understanding of complex relationships.
Further information on the project and Yannick Back's research can be found here:
Cool-INN: Cool urban living spaces for a resilient society
