A recent article from Euro talks all about the company’s work with the city of Vienna to fight Urban Heat Islands.
The Czech company ECOTEN created a temperature map of Vienna. By order of the Austrian metropolis, the company found out which parts of the city were the hottest in the summer and what was the population composition in those localities. The company intends to offer this product to other European cities in order to help mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect.
The Vienna City Hall was impressed by the thermo-mapping technology developed by the Czech company ECOTEN. After several months of cooperation, the Viennese councilors already know where the heat points of the capital are located. The City of Vienna is looking use these results to ensure that the temperature during hot summer days does not reach extreme values in places where there is a high proportion of seniors or young children among residents.
“The enormous heat is burdening all Viennese citizens, however children and elderly people who are often no longer leaving their flats are particularly at risk”, said planning councilor Birgit Hebein, who initiated the project. According to her, each age group needs something different for the successful survival of hot days.
“Where a lot of old people live, enough shade, benches and a chance to cool down are needed. Where many children live, playgrounds with water features are suitable” Hebeinová told ORF Vienna Radio.
Not surprisingly, the hottest parts of Vienna are located in dense developments near the center. The ‘hot islands’ are the Ottakring and Margareten districts. Altogether, ECOTEN in Vienna has identified ten areas with extreme temperatures. These areas have a lack of greenery in common. A total of 20,000 children under 14 years of age and 27,000 people over 65 live in these areas.
For ECOTEN this is the first of such order. The company established cooperation with the Austrian metropolis at the end of last year.
“In October 2018, I attended the Climathon event in Vienna, where I first presented my map of urban vulnerability to heat in response to the ‘Hot spots in the city’ challenge, which then took the Vienna City Energy Planning Department. Then we started to work on a supplier basis to develop a map for Vienna, ”says Sagnik Bhattacharjee, who is behind the idea of developing city temperature maps and was responsible for the ECOTEN project in Vienna.
The company used satellite imaging technology and geographic information system, which is a program that allows to store, manage and analyze spatial data.
The study created by the Czech company is intended to help Vienna to avert the progressive climate change, which is very much affected by cities. “We already have a study that says that by 2050 our city will warm up to eight degrees,” Hebein said. Therefore, action needs to be taken quickly.
ECOTEN is a consulting company specializing in energy, environmental and management consulting. Its core activities are energy studies and audits or energy performance certificates. As Bhattacharjee said, the company has been working on the topic of temperature maps for about a year. He is currently preparing proposals to reach out to other European cities to fight the Urban Heat Island Effect.
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