SOUTH BEND – A new and innovative partnership between the City of South Bend and University of Notre Dame researchers is tackling the challenge of urban heat islands by using an unlikely tool: garbage trucks. A team of scientists and designers has equipped the city’s fleet with specialized sensors to collect continuous data on temperature and humidity, providing a detailed, neighborhood-by-neighborhood look at where the city is hottest.
Urban heat islands are a growing concern in cities nationwide. These areas, typically marked by dense pavement and a lack of trees, trap and intensify heat, leading to higher temperatures than in surrounding rural or greener areas. This effect disproportionately impacts lower-income neighborhoods, raising energy costs, increasing air pollution, and contributing to heat-related illnesses and deaths.
A Smart Solution on Wheels
The research team, comprised of Ming Hu, associate dean in the School of Architecture; Jason Carley, assistant professor of industrial design; and Siavash Ghorbany, a doctoral student in civil and environmental engineering, chose garbage trucks for their unique advantages. The trucks follow the same routes every week, allowing for the consistent, long-term collection of data across the entire city.
“The more challenging part of the study is that you have to have this advanced technology out in the elements, in the rain, on a moving truck,” said Carley, who designed the custom, waterproof housing for the sensors. The housing protects the sensitive equipment while allowing it to accurately measure ambient air temperature without interference from the truck itself or direct sunlight. The sensors were deployed at the beginning of August and will continue to collect data through September.
From Campus to Community
The project builds on previous work by Hu and Ghorbany, who developed a model to identify heat islands on the Notre Dame campus using satellite imagery and machine learning. This city-wide project will allow them to test their model on a larger scale. If successful, the model could eventually be used to predict heat islands in other large cities, allowing urban planners to proactively implement solutions like increasing tree canopies or making building renovations.
Once the data is analyzed, the team will present its findings to the City of South Bend’s Office of Sustainability and share the results with residents. The collaboration aims to provide the city with the information needed to allocate financial and physical resources effectively, ultimately making South Bend a more resilient and healthier place for all its residents. The researchers also hope to expand the project in the future to measure air quality and other public health indicators.