Integrating Urban Heat Island Mitigation into Green Building Rating Systems

Amidst the climate crisis, cities remain the foremost cause and victims of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. UHI is the higher temperature observed in a city compared to nearby rural environments. The built environment, in particular buildings, are known to be highly responsible for heating up or increasing the temperature of spaces in which they are built. Due to environmental and public interest concerns, how buildings are approved and constructed should be of concern in the fight against the UHI effect and climate change. Currently, municipalities use the Green Building Rating Systems (GBRS) to analyze the environmental performance of buildings. Reviews of the GBRS show that they primarily focus on energy consumption and carbon emissions in buildings. There is no evidence that GBRS assess how municipalities monitor or regulate the heat emitted by buildings. This research is designed to empirically ascertain from architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) professionals how municipalities can directly, through their regulatory processes or indirectly though the GBRS, gauge the heat emitted by buildings, and prescribe pragmatic mitigation measures. The study was conducted through a questionnaire survey that will be administered online via snowball sampling. The outcomes of this research should provide practical insights into how UHI mitigation can be integrated into GBRS used by governments. Such integration will add value to the broader efforts of governments to combat climate change.