Capitol Canopy | Sacramento Capitol Mall Design Competition Winner | ATLAS Lab

Capitol Canopy | Sacramento Capitol Mall Design competition | ATLAS Lab
The urban forest is an important part of every thriving city. Tree canopies provide critical services for the city, including reducing heat island effects though the provision of shade and the creation of microclimates.
Continue reading Capitol Canopy | Sacramento Capitol Mall Design Competition Winner | ATLAS Lab

This Week in Landscape | 25 March 2012

This weeks round-up of landscape news from around the web

Jungleland - The Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans Gives New Meaning to ‘Urban Growth’ | Nathaniel Rich | New York Times Magazine
The power of nature is shown by the ‘jungle’ that is recolonising parts of the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans that have been abandoned since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Finding the urban forest in your neck of the woods | Laurie Casey | Chicago Tribune
Boasting millions of trees, other plants, and wildlife, the urban forest contributes valuable benefits. It produces fresh oxygen, reduces urban heat island effects, and stores carbon. Studies show being around or seeing trees even improves our mood and helps us heal from surgery faster.

Cloned trees fuel urban pollen count | Randy Shore | Vancouver Sun
Planting male clones effectively doubles the amount of pollen released, horticulturalist says.

He changed Bangalore’s landscape | Deccan Herald
Gustav Krumbiegel established the Horticultural School in the erstwhile Mysore state, a first for India.

America’s Coolest Driveways | Tanya Mohn | Forbes
“Good driveway design is all about the arrival experience,” says Charles A. Birnbaum, founder and president of The Cultural Landscape Foundation

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Scientists investigate urban climate in the Netherlands

Reseachers at Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR) have been riding around Rotterdam and Arnhem in the Netherlands on two trikes mapping and measuring the urban climate during four time intervals on a 24 hour day. The measuring was to study the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect that often causes heat stress.

The measurements on 6 August in Rotterdam showed that during day time the city centre was two degrees warmer on average than Zestienhoven(Rotterdam) airport, which is located outside the city. A striking observation was that the city park De Twee Heuvelen was 2.4 degrees cooler than Zestienhoven. This means that the differences in the afternoon in the city can rise to 4.4 degrees centigrade. During the late evening (22-24 hours), the city centre was more than 5 degrees warmer than Zestienhoven. The route near the national Green Heart (Doenkade) turned out to be even cooler (2 degrees C) than Zestienhoven. The difference in temperature between the city and countryside consequently amounted to more than 7 degrees during nocturnal hours.

In the late afternoon the felt air temperature – the air temperature perceived by the human body – was 28 degrees C at Zestienhoven, the temperature at the city centre of Rotterdam (in the sun and out of the wind) would feel more than 6 degrees higher – so well above 30° C. Surprisingly, similar effects were measured in the much smaller city of Arnhem.

For the measurements (before sunrise, midday, late afternoon, after sunset), days with maximum temperatures above 25° C were necessary. With the two cargo bikes with measurement equipment, the researchers cycled along two previously determined routes through a number of characteristic urban districts, such as an industrial area, an older residential area, a city park and the harbour area. The researchers plan to take more measurements later this year and in 2010.

SOURCE: Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR)
IMAGE: Wageningen University and Research Centre (WUR)