Low-income neighborhoods with higher Black, Hispanic and Asian communities are significantly hotter than wealthier mostly white neighborhoods in Southern California and the rest of the county, according to a UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy study released Tuesday.
The analysis revealed land surface temperatures in communities with higher rates of poverty can be up to seven degrees warmer during the Summer.
The study, published in the journal Earth’s Future, analyzed remotely sensed land surface temperature measurements of 1,056 U.S. counties with 10 or more census districts.
The researchers found minority communities are experiencing more "urban heat," in part because of the areas’ higher population and building density.
“There are more houses. They are closer together. There are more roads, more parking lots, which also kind of traps the heat inside the city,” the study's first author Susanne Benz told KNX. She was a postdoctoral fellow supported by the School of Global Policy and Strategy’s Big Pixel Initiative while conducting the study.
“[The heat] just can’t escape all of these buildings being so close to each other,” she added.
Benz also pointed to the fact that lower-income areas tend to have fewer green spaces.
The study found extreme was linked to serious health and livelihood consequences like premature births, lower test scores and decreases in productivity.
According to the study's authors, more trees and green spaces can help offset the damaging effects of urban heat.
The research team found that more greenery could reduce summer temperatures on average by 1 degree Fahrenheit for 59 percent of the urban population.
“Smart urban planning cannot continue to be treated as a luxury item or else the most vulnerable populations will be further left behind and heat-based suffering will worsen for billions around the world,” Benz and her co-author Jennifer Burney wrote.
“Access to livable urban temperatures for all neighborhoods must become something we consider as essential for the vibrancy and functionality in our cities.”
The researcher's data, which they made publicly available, can be found at https://sabenz.users.earthengine.app/view/urbanheatusa.