Richmond Wins Smart 50 Award for Urban Heat Island Study

Richmond's urban heat island study is one of the winners of the Smart 50 Awards that recognizes innovative and influential global smart cities projects at the annual Smart Cities Connect Conference. The project, utilizing volunteers and citizen science, was recognized in the category of Community Engagement.

In summer of 2017, the City of Richmond Office of Sustainability collaborated with partners including the Science Museum of Virginia, students and faculty from Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Richmond, and local non-profits to measure local temperatures around Richmond and map the urban heat island in the city. Urban heat island is a phenomenon causing urban areas to experience higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas due to lack of tree canopy and more heat trapping surfaces such as paved roads and buildings.

One shared goal for the project was for data collection and mapping to be volunteer-based and citizen science-led. The partners assembled a group of citizen volunteers to collect temperature observations. This approach was low-cost, functional and enabled the partners to develop a valuable urban heat island map informed by citizens.

An initial map of surface temperatures around Richmond identified temperature differences as large as 16 degrees across the city at the same time on the same day. The data and analysis from this project are being used to help inform urban heat island-reducing actions as part of RVAgreen 2050.

Learn more about the project here.