Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning Jean-Michel Guldmann and alumna Yujin Park (PhD, ’20) published “Impacts of tree and building shades on the urban heat island: Combining remote sensing, 3D digital city and spatial regression approaches” in the July 2021 Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. The research could help cities guide planting and building to take advantage of their shade to reduce surface heat.

“We can use the information from our model to formulate guidelines for community greening and tree planting efforts, and even where to locate buildings to maximize shading on other buildings and roadways,” said Jean-Michel Guldmann, co-author of the study and professor emeritus of city and regional planning at The Ohio State University.

“This could have significant effects on temperatures at the street and neighborhood level.”

For example, a simulation run by the researchers in one Columbus neighborhood found on a day with a high of 93.33 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature could have been 4.87 degrees lower if the young trees already in that area were fully grown and 20 more fully grown trees had been planted.

“Throwing shade: Measuring how much trees, buildings cool cities”
by Jeff Grabmeier

Read more at Ohio State News