This is how much hotter urban sprawl makes US cities feel
Nearly 34 million people across 65 US cities — roughly one in 10 Americans — live in a place where the built environment makes temperatures feel at least 8 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than it would without that urban sprawl. That’s according to a new study by the nonprofit Climate Central, which mapped the impact of a phenomenon called the urban heat island effect in major cities in the US.
Dark, paved surfaces with little greenery tend to absorb heat. Hot exhaust from heavy traffic and industrial facilities can also make certain neighborhoods warmer than others. That’s how the urban heat island effect can make a heatwave feel even worse for some communities. In the US, a history of segregation and redlining that resulted in chronic...