Urban Heat Island Studies and its Effects Across the Different Cities of the India – A Review

Abstract

Rapid urbanization in India has provided people with improved quality of life, but this excessive and uncontrolled rise of urbanization has also fostered the urban-rural temperature difference. This difference of temperature is termed as Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect which makes cities more susceptible to climate change. Cities in India are experiencing extensive urban development, with urbanization rate increase of 4% from last decade (Onda et al., 2019) and deteriorating climate conditions. As the research publication to calculate UHI in Indian cities have doubled in last 5 years, a complete review of the results and showcasing the directions in which research has been progressing is necessary to add more clarity for the scientific community. This paper comprises of a review of 50 research articles published across peer reviewed journals in last decade, covering 38 cities. It was found that Delhi, Mumbai & Ahmedabad are most frequently studied, and satellite-based method to calculate UHI has been used predominantly. Some studies have shown significant implication of UHI in terms of determining variation in micro climatic zones across cities, increased demand of energy consumption and degradation of the environment. Some studies have also talked about different mitigation techniques that can be followed by the cities to minimize the effect of UHI on its residents. With similar type of urbanization, climate, cities can mutually benefit from collaborative approach for research to undermine the effects of Urban Heat Island.