{"id":15428,"date":"2025-09-11T16:19:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:19:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/?p=15428"},"modified":"2025-09-11T16:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T14:21:08","slug":"15428","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/","title":{"rendered":"What is an urban heat island?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"text-center ai-optimize-11\"><a href=\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-scaled.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-15417 img-responsive\" src=\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-300x236.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"502\" height=\"395\" srcset=\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-300x236.jpg 300w, http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-1024x806.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-768x604.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 502px) 100vw, 502px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-6 ai-optimize-introduction\">An <strong class=\"bold\">urban heat island<\/strong> (<strong class=\"bold\">UHI<\/strong>) is an increase in air and surface temperatures in city centers compared to neighboring rural or forested areas, particularly at night.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"ai-optimize-7\"><strong class=\"bold\">Causes<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-7\">This phenomenon is due to the way cities are constructed (asphalt, dark roofs, lack of vegetation, dense human activity), which reduces air circulation and causes high heat absorption during the day, which is then released at night. The temperature can reach up to ten degrees higher than in surrounding areas, especially during periods of intense heat.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-8\">An example of the UHI rate in the 9th arrondissement of Paris:<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-8\"><a href=\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20220620063728-paris09.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-15414 img-responsive aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20220620063728-paris09-300x288.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"533\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20220620063728-paris09-300x288.jpg 300w, http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20220620063728-paris09-1024x983.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20220620063728-paris09-768x737.jpg 768w, http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/20220620063728-paris09.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-8\"><strong class=\"bold\">Source<\/strong>: https:\/\/www.construction21.org\/france\/articles\/h\/paris-icu.html<\/p>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h2 class=\"ai-optimize-9\"><strong class=\"bold\">The consequences<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-9\">These heat domes covering urban areas can cause thermal discomfort and have a significant impact on human health and energy consumption in urban areas. This phenomenon is getting worse over time. To remedy this, it is necessary to increase the albedo of surfaces and increase the greening of buildings and urban spaces.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 class=\"ai-optimize-10\"><strong class=\"bold\">Our expertise:<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<p class=\"ai-optimize-10\">THEMACS Ing\u00e9nierie offers rapid characterization of the albedo of your materials and surface coatings in order to reduce surrounding heat islands. To do this, we measure spectral emissivity and characterize the albedo on different surfaces using our portable albedo measurement device, which we have developed ourselves.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; An urban heat island (UHI) is an increase in air and surface temperatures in city centers compared to neighboring rural or forested areas, particularly at night. Causes &nbsp; This phenomenon is due to the way cities are constructed (asphalt, dark roofs, lack of [&hellip;]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15417,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-actualites-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.2 (Yoast SEO v25.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What is an urban heat island?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is an urban heat island?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; An urban heat island (UHI) is an increase in air and surface temperatures in city centers compared to neighboring rural or forested areas, particularly at night. Causes &nbsp; This phenomenon is due to the way cities are constructed (asphalt, dark roofs, lack of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Themacs Ing\u00e9nierie\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-11T14:19:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-11T14:21:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2014\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"monchau\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"monchau\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/\",\"name\":\"What is an urban heat island?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-11T14:19:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-11T14:21:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/3c6a7e9c0ddbb9ea10af0e81d0963912\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Depositphotos_158447448_XL-1_11zon-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":2014},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/home\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"What is an urban heat island?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Themacs Ing\u00e9nierie\",\"description\":\"Engineering in Ile-de-France\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/3c6a7e9c0ddbb9ea10af0e81d0963912\",\"name\":\"monchau\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e22d152416e67319e11c7f41e74de64?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3e22d152416e67319e11c7f41e74de64?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"monchau\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/author\/monchau\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is an urban heat island?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/themacs-engineering.com\/en\/actualites-en\/15428\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is an urban heat island?","og_description":"&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; An urban heat island (UHI) is an increase in air and surface temperatures in city centers compared to neighboring rural or forested areas, particularly at night. 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