Trees as natural air conditioners
London is getting hotter this week, and walking along the streets as well as staying on the bus or tube is unpleasant.
Although more transport and shops have air conditioning installed, it’s not the way to minimise the impact from heat, as this will bring more heat which can contribute to greenhouse effect.
Nothing is better than planting more trees as dense as possible to not only block almost all the sunlight to reduce heat and the risk of skin cancer, but also provide a cool pathway which encourages walking and even running. Research shows trees can cool down a city by up to 10 degrees lower.
Although it's challenging, we should still have to figure out how we can introduce more trees in areas which have been already developed. In new areas which need to be developed, or areas which have to be redeveloped, architects don't need to be obsessed with designing or engineering everything: if there are forests already, they should preserve and make it much easily accessible to everyone; if there are not, they can consider to make it, or plant them along some important paths. The illustrations shown in the (re)development plan looks aesthetically pleasing, but a few trees like a garden are obviously not enough.
We already have the good examples in Bayswater Road and Holland Park Avenue in London.
Bayswater Road
