URBAN HEAT ISLAND IMPACT IN TURIN - the role of urban pavement

The urban heat island (UHI) effect has been the subject of extensive research over the years. This phenomenon refers to the localized increase in air temperatures in urban areas compared to surrounding rural or less developed regions. The UHI effect is associated with a range of environmental and public health risks, which are well documented and significant. Albedo is a key factor in determining the intensity of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. It refers to how much sunlight is reflected by a surface. Materials like asphalt, which have a low albedo, absorb more heat, making them common in road surfaces. This contributes to higher temperatures in urban areas. This thesis aims to explore the UHI effect and investigate how different types of urban pavements contribute to it. Specifically, it examines how materials used in the construction of urban infrastructure affect temperature, with the application of "cool" materials serving as a potential strategy to reduce surface heat. This study, which utilizes weather station data and Landsat 8 satellite imagery, takes an appropriate approach for measuring and quantifying the UHI effect. The temporal data taken from one or more of these data sources are considered as reasonable indicatives of a typical time frame for the effects of one another. An array of urban indices based on satellite imagery, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Land Surface Temperature (LST), will prove useful in framing the phenomenon as well as providing directions in developing suitable strategies for reducing such effects. The present thesis aims to focus on taking albedo measurements of various road pavements in the city of Turin. These pavements provided a great variation in the application of the albedo measurement with regard to the warming up of urban environments and how they influence UHI. Measurements thus undertaken are the first of their kind in Turin and are included in an area where such studies are few.