The effects of small Water Cool(ing) Islands on body temperature

ABSTRACT

Water Cool(ing) Island (WCI) literature has paid little attention to smaller waterscapes in developed areas that are most vulnerable to the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. To fill this gap, this study investigated participants’ changes in body temperature and stress level associated with the visual, auditory, and thermal properties of small waterscapes. The results of this study demonstrated that smaller waterscapes can provide effective cooling for predominantly hardscaped urban settings prone to the effects of UHI. This approach offers low-income residents without air-conditioning outdoor alternatives to indoor cooling centres in a post-pandemic era with more frequent and severe heat waves.

KEYWORDS:

• Urban Heat Island (UHI)
• Urban Cool(ing) Island (UCI)
• evaporative cooling
• water features
• heat stress

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics approval

The research protocol for data collection from participants was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the University of Oregon (number: 071123.019).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) research award, the Faculty Research Award from the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Pennsylvania State University, the Innovation [X] Grant from the Texas A&M Foundation, as well as the Faculty Startup Fund from the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M University.