Urbana värmeöar : En het fråga för framtida Sverige

This paper examines the phenomenon known as urban heat island and its consequences on public health, pollution and how it can affect energy use in homes and workplaces. Moreover, in this paper it has been discussed how city and regional planners can reduce high temperatures impact on Swedish urban areas. Lastly the phenomenon’s presence and visibility have been studied in a Swedish context. This has been executed by studying reports and papers published by Swedish government agencies, analyzing Swedish municipalities comprehensive plans and by interviewing the city Architect of Umeå.The conclusion that can be drawn from the result of this paper is that the urban heat island phenomenon will be more prominent and will be having a relatively large impact on Swedish urban areas in the future. The study done for this paper also show that higher temperatures in urban areas can make an impact on public health, especially children and elderly might endure health disadvantages during a heat wave. Higher temperatures in cities abroad are linked with a higher usage of expensive air conditions and higher levels of air pollution. However, there are multiple measures that can be implemented in urban areas that can reduce the consequences of higher temperatures. This essay presents multiple adjustments for urban areas. However, the studies done for this paper show that Swedish government and municipal officials’ knowledge about urban heat islands are either quite poor or are rarely taking measures to adapt urban areas to higher temperatures