Urban Heat Islands impacts on architecture and urban planning: Rabat case study

Abstract

Ever since its discovery in the last century, global warming has always held a dominant position in international discourse. The worsening of the global climate, largely attributed to the growing intensity of human activity since the Industrial Revolution, has pushed every nation on earth to regulate its consumption and footprint to better preserve the planet and its resources for upcoming generations. Through a case study of Rabat, this paper focuses on the Urban Heat Islands phenomenon (a notorious effect of climate change) via the lenses of architecture and urban planning. It analyzes first the influence linking these fields: Urban Heat Island, planning, and architecture. Then, it identifies the specific elements and parameters of the city that have a direct impact on its climatic comfort. The current climate of Rabat is then analyzed through a series of maps created with QGIS using freely available satellite data, all while taking into account the points of impact discovered earlier. The Moroccan capital, despite its coastal nature, is still a victim of the climatic woes experienced by other cities of its size. This anthropogenic heat, compounded with the sub-desert and desert influences coming from the south of the country, makes for intense climatic discomfort during heat waves, particularly in the denser districts of the city.

Keywords: urban heat island, architecture, urban planning, urban morphology, thermal comfort, Rabat, Morocco