Urban Heat Island Effect and Urban life

Under the background of global warming, a concept named urban heat island effect attracts more discussion. University of Sussex found that urban heat island could double the effect that is caused by other climate issues. Urban heat island leaves  a series of  negative influences on urban life. It mainly affects us in three parts: urban climate, health and energy consumption.

UHI raises the risk of the floodings in urban areas. Temperature in urban area becomes warmer than the surrounding area due to human activities, hot air will rise because of its low density and cold air will flow into the city, thunderstorms and additional showers could occur when they meet around cities, which result in more rainfall in urban areas than before, and leave an extra burden on city sewerage systems. Cities would suffer the disaster of floodings once sewerage could not satisfy the need of discharge.
UHI also affects human health on both physical and mental parts. Firstly, more frequency of hot days could leave negative influences on the human body especially heart and blooding. It could lead to heat stroke, heat exhaustion and some permanent damages to organ systems. On the other hand, UHI could result in more irritable and aggressive behaviors, studies show that violent crimes increase 0.05% when a temperature increase in 10 ℃.
Finally, UHI makes it more difficult to achieve a sustainable life in cities, especially in the aspect of energy consumption. Hot days drive to more use of air conditioner, and finally result in more energy consumption. In addition, UHI leaves more energy waste in the process of power transmission.