The topic of the article Urban Heat Island Mitigation and Urban Planning: The Case of the Mexicali, B. C. Mexico, by Jorge Villanueva-Solis, asks the question, how Mexicali’s, a city in Mexico, rising climate be impacted and potentially reduced by analyzing and modeling its urban structure. The phenomenon called Urban Heat Island (UHI) is the main reason why cities climate is typically warmer than outside and includes impacts on air quality, water demand, and energy. IPCC, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, is an organization created by the United Nations given the task of creating awareness of climate change through scientific view released a report describing the changes needed in cities to decrease their climate change. They reported the need for urban centers to devote their efforts to adaptation through urban planning and therefore reduce the risks of direct and indirect impacts of climate change. This article focuses on the heightened UHI, how its impacted by urban expansion, and its impacts on the city of Mexicali. Results of the study showed that the use of dynamic modeling as a tool applied to urban planning and focused on the reduction and adaptation to climate change. The studies results also showed that regarding implementation of strategies, results indicated that the most effective results are obtained when the strategy is applied generally. The study found that housing land use can significantly reduce the Urban Heat Island in Mexicali.

Two components of collecting data were used to find the data needed. In the first component, data was gathered using a digital satellite that provided clear information on thermal variation. Thermal characteristics within the city were obtained from the infrared band of the satellite. The second method used dynamic modeling and simulation of scenarios, which analyzed the urban spaces process of growth and transformation. The topic of this research was intriguing to me because it proposed one of many answers to the topic of reducing climate change.  The research for this article proposed that a cities capacity for adaptation and mitigation is the key to slowing down climate change. I believe that a carefully and well plan urban center could end up seeing better climate change reduction results. The topic of climate change reduction is a broad topic that I think will be interesting to many people. I also think that this different way of approaching climate change will be of interest to some people.

Citation:

Villanueva-Solis, J. (2017) Urban Heat Island Mitigation and Urban Planning: The Case of the Mexicali, B. C. Mexico. American Journal of Climate Change, 6, 22-39. doi: 10.4236/ajcc.2017.61002.

Abstract:     http://www.scirp.org/Journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=73976

Article:      http://file.scirp.org/pdf/AJCC_2017020716072125.pdf