Urban heat maps

The high-resolution heat maps are created using machine learning by combining satellite data with freely available admin­is­trative data and measure­ments from private weather stations.

Cities are partic­u­larly vulnerable to extreme heat. Therefore, under­standing temper­ature distri­b­ution in urban areas is partic­u­larly important and affects many areas — from archi­tecture to urban planning to public health.

The heat maps with a resolution of 10x10 meters enable a wide range of analyses:

• Bench­marking: How severely is a particular location affected by heat compared to the city as a whole or compared to Switzerland?
• Vulner­a­bility analyses: Who is affected by climate change and to what extent? These analyses can relate to the population (e.g., by age or by socioe­co­nomic factors such as income) or to the building stock (e.g., by year of construction or by use).
• Cooling effects: Analysis of the cooling effect of green spaces.
• Conflicting goals: Which conflicting goals (e.g. regarding densi­fi­cation) can occur?
• Projec­tions: Climate models can be used to estimate future heat stress. Heat map for the city of Zurich. Around 600 temper­ature sensors serve as the basis.

Heat map for the city of Zurich. Around 600 temper­ature sensors serve as the basis.

Urban greening as a measure against the heat