WVXU: Why it gets hotter in the city

Concrete, asphalt, lack of tree cover are all things that impact temperature, and times of extreme heat are harder on the most vulnerable urban populations, says Pravin Bhiwapurkar an assistant professor in UC’s School of Architecture and Interior Design.

As temperature climb this week, Bhiwapurkar was featured on WVXU to explain why it gets hotter in the city than it does in the suburbs.

Bhiwapurkar’s research focus is on how urban development contributes to the heat island (UHI) effect which modifies outdoor and indoor environments. UHI affects building energy needs, microenvironments as well as human health, especially that of children and the older population.

Bhiwapurkar began working with the city of Cincinnati in 2015 and credits the current administration, as well as previous ones, for taking steps to cool things down.

“By working in various interdisciplinary teams, I helped improve the building performance by integrating environmental technologies early in the design process and creating evidence by employing energy modeling and simulation approaches.”

Listen to the interview