Climate resilience: Has the time come to start demanding lighter-coloured streets in hotter climates?
Climate resilience: Has the time come to start demanding lighter-coloured streets in hotter climates?
Climate resilience: Has the time come to start demanding lighter-coloured streets in hotter climates?
At this stage, the challenge with climate change is not just preventing it from happening by cutting emissions. We also need to make our cities resilient to the climate change we've already locked in.
That's where lighter coloured paving for streets, rather than dark asphalt, can help:
"Sebastian Pfautsch doesn't hesitate when asked what he would change first to cool Australian cities in summer.
"And it's not what you might expect. It's not the seemingly endless expanse of black roofs, soaking up the sun beneath a shimmering haze.
"It's the roads. About a third of any outer suburb is thermally dense black asphalt that can reach 75 degrees Celsius, according to Professor Pfautsch, an expert on urban heat at the University of Western Sydney.
...
"Lighter-coloured roads may make intuitive sense, like wearing a white shirt on a hot day, but how effectively do they reduce surface and ambient air temperature?
"In 2020, two separate cool roads trials in Sydney and Adelaide set out to conclusively answer these questions.
"The Sydney trial, which took place at about 10 sites in the Western Sydney suburbs of Blacktown, Campbelltown and Parramatta, recorded an average surface temperature reduction of 5.6C and 2C for day and night respectively.
"For context, tree shade reduced the surface temperatures of roads by 16C."
@urbanism #urbanism #UrbanPlanning #transport #cities #environment #ClimateChange
Trees are better. Roofs might make sense but the added brightness of road surfaces seems like a problem. We also should greatly reduce the amount of road surface but this will face more resistance.
Yes!!!
Here's a related, short video, from Brad Lancaster in Tucson, Arizona: How wall color can cool (or heat) you by over 25˚F (13˚C), & shade can cool you by over 45˚F (25˚C)
@ajsadauskas @urbanism As a cyclist, I can attest to the difference pavement color makes. The darkest, freshly laid blacktop is by far the worst, just searing on a hot day. A gray concrete road is far less hot. Eliminating pavement should be the goal, no new roads encouraging car culture.
About a third of any outer suburb is thermally dense black asphalt
My personal epiphany on being against/critical of cars as a kid was when, one day, I was in the ‘burbs and noticed just how big the roads were, like my brain clicked over and finally realised a road is just space like anything else and that all the roads were sitting there taking up all of this space.
@ajsadauskas @urbanism Look at current new-build Oz housing: black roofs, because we need the heat input. Black exterior walls, esp. north- or west-facing; no eaves for shade; and trees are forbidden.
@JamesAshburnerCBR @urbanism A previous NSW Planning Minister, Rob Stokes, wanted to ban dark coloured roofs.
He was rolled in a Cabinet reshuffle in favour of one of Perrottet's factional allies, Anthony Roberts, who dumped the policy.
(What job did Anthony Roberts hold before entering politics? He was the PR guy for a property developer: https://www.9news.com.au/national/news-nsw-planning-minister-anthony-roberts-conflict-of-interest/27d93a02-e1cc-45f6-8058-9054032250d4 You can't make this stuff up!)
@ajsadauskas @urbanism Vaguely remember that. Ah, NSW: corruption scandal one day, new form of shady, profitable practice the next.
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