How Cities Use Parks for Climate Change Management

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The urban heat island effect, and its mostly negative consequences of modified temperature, wind, precipitation, and air quality patterns, is the primary instigator of local climate change. Continued urbanization of the global population will only hasten further change. The increasing impact of urban heat islands on local climates may eventually translate to more widespread climate change, possibly global, if left unchecked.

Parks are the first and best line of defense against these changes. Urban parks cool and clean the air, improve and modify local wind circulations, and better regulate precipitation patterns. Well-vegetated parks, in a variety of forms and sizes, mitigate the impact of the urban heat island and minimize local climate change. Reduced impact of the urban heat island may prolong or even prevent more widespread global climate change as cities continue to increase in both size and number.

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