AHMEDABAD – Cities across the globe are deploying innovative technologies to combat the urban heat island effect, a growing hazard magnified by climate change. A new global study highlights how India’s urban centers, in particular, are at the forefront of this effort, using smartwatches and other novel methods to map and manage extreme heat.
The urban heat island effect can cause city temperatures to be up to 12°C higher than surrounding areas, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. A global study, with a focus on communities in Ahmedabad, India, is providing residents with smartwatches embedded with heat-tracking features. These devices collect real-time data on the body’s physiological responses to heat, offering a more human-centric understanding of heat stress.
The data gathered from these wearables is being used to evaluate the effectiveness of urban planning solutions like cool roofs. Participants in the study have already reported improvements in sleep after their roofs were treated to reflect more sunlight.
This wearable tech is part of a broader trend of innovative heat monitoring:
• Mobile Sensors: In cities like South Bend, Indiana, sensors have been mounted on municipal garbage trucks to collect granular data on temperature and humidity along their daily routes, helping city planners target areas most in need of interventions like tree planting.
• Citizen Science: In South Africa, volunteers are using portable heat-stress monitors to create their own maps of how heat exposure varies across different neighborhoods, highlighting environmental inequities between affluent and underserved areas.
• Human-Centric Mapping: Swiss researchers are pioneering a method that focuses on “body-felt temperatures,” using portable sensors to capture a person’s actual heat stress experience rather than just the ambient temperature.
By combining these innovative data collection methods, cities can move from simply gathering information to creating detailed heat exposure maps that drive tangible solutions. The ultimate goal is to pinpoint where heat risk is most severe and implement strategies to protect vulnerable populations, strengthening urban resilience against the rising threat of extreme weather.