Citation

Graham DA, Vanos JK, Kenny NA, Brown RD. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2017; 14(7): e14070778.

Affiliation

Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture 3137, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3137, USA. robert.brown@tamu.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, MDPI: Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute)

DOI

10.3390/ijerph14070778

PMID

28708081

PMCID

PMC5551216

Abstract

Urban residents are at risk of health-related illness during extreme heat events but the dangers are not equal in all parts of a city. Previous studies have found a relationship between physical characteristics of neighborhoods and the number of emergency medical response (EMR) calls. We used a human energy budget model to test the effects of landscape modifications that are designed to cool the environment on the expected number of EMR calls in two neighborhoods in Toronto, Canada during extreme heat events. The cooling design strategies reduced the energy overload on people by approximately 20-30 W m(-2), resulting in an estimated 40-50% reduction in heat-related ambulance calls. These findings advance current understanding of the relationship between the urban landscape and human health and suggest straightforward design strategies to positively influence urban heat-health.

Language: en

Keywords

energy budget modeling; landscape architecture; urban design