Letting the wind flow freely is the secret to cooling our cities
Urban planners and meteorologists argue that dense city infrastructure and high-rise buildings are reducing surface-level wind speeds, worsening the urban heat island effect. Designing cities to allow for better natural airflow is proposed as a key strategy for cooling urban environments.
Why it matters
As cities become hotter and more crowded, passive cooling strategies like wind-flow optimization are essential for public health and climate adaptation.
India’s cities are bustling with taller buildings and more densely packed populations. The hotter days in many of these cities also come with high humidity , and can make the experience of heat seem unforgiving. One of the reasons is often a perceived lack of winds, which often have to make their way through the nooks and crannies of crowded streets before reaching a window.
Slower winds can affect how people experience heat. Normally, the air immediately above the ground becomes saturated with water vapour due to evaporation. When winds blow faster, the saturated air is replaced with drier air. Slower winds, however, also limit evaporation.
Wind speed near the ground has been dropping worldwide, in a phenomenon called terrestrial stilling, since the 1980s.
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