Why is Harlem a “heat pocket” (and what does this mean, anyway)?
In the summer, not every area of New York City catches heat the same way. Because of the urban island effect and factors such as the elevation of the area, the distribution of vegetation around it and the material of the buildings inside it, some neighborhoods are called “heat pockets”, which means that absorbs and retains more heat than others.
The “urban heat island” effect impacts citizens in a big way, baking our neighborhood’s streets, the places where we work and ultimately, our homes. Cities are prone to areas that are extra hot because the topography tends to be so varied, explained Brian Vant-Hull, a researcher based in CUNY City College who is also a neighbor in Harlem, one of the hottest areas in the city, together with South Bronx.
This is a growing concern for urban heat islands like New York City, whose perspectives of temperature risings and increasing numbers of emergencies or deaths for the next decades are alarming.
In this video, Vant-Hull walks us through all the factors that make Harlem a heat pocket, how the dwellers in the area are managing to endure the summer and what can be done in the future to make it a safer area.
