{"id":454948,"date":"2023-08-09T06:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-09T04:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=454948"},"modified":"2023-08-09T06:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T04:30:00","slug":"fake-trees-reflective-asphalt-building-climate-proof-cities-with-these-creative-solutions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/fake-trees-reflective-asphalt-building-climate-proof-cities-with-these-creative-solutions\/","title":{"rendered":"<strong>Fake trees, reflective asphalt: Building climate-proof cities with these creative solutions<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><em>Heat has emerged as one of Europe\u2019s greatest enemies. In the new series&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/en\/category\/europe-battling-the-heat\/\">\u2018Europe battling heat\u2018<\/a>, IO finds out how cities (can) arm themselves against it. Today:&nbsp;innovative ways to build climate-proof cities.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similar to floods and droughts, heat stress is a major challenge to deal with in climate adaptation. Heat records are being broken every year in Europe. The Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that this year we saw the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/climate.copernicus.eu\/copernicus-record-north-atlantic-warmth-hottest-june-record-globally?utm_source=socialmedia&amp;utm_medium=tw&amp;utm_campaign=CBjune23\">hottest June<\/a>&nbsp;on record. The European Space Agency expects the temperatures to rise even further.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In July 2023, both Bucharest and Rome&nbsp;witnessed&nbsp;land surface temperatures of&nbsp;45\u00b0C, while Catania and Nicosia reached&nbsp;as much as&nbsp;50\u00b0C.&nbsp;With climate taking a grip, heat waves like these will be more common and frequent, with severe consequences. Our cities cannot handle such heat stress, and necessary measures need to be taken in order to battle the extreme weather and make them more adequate for habitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"io-block io-block__summary\"><ul><li>Rising heat stress poses a significant climate challenge in Europe, with increasing temperatures and heat waves.<\/li><li>Innovative solutions, including shading techniques, light-reflecting pavement, and fake trees, are being developed at Groningen&#8217;s testing ground to combat heat stress and make cities climate-proof.<\/li><li>Collaborative efforts between the government and citizens are essential to address climate change and ensure cities are adapted for sustainability by 2050.<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Within&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.building.nl\/proeftuin\/klimaatadaptatie-proeftuin\">BuildinG<\/a>\u2018s testing ground&nbsp;at&nbsp;the Zernike Campus in Groningen, the Netherlands, creative and innovative ideas to help build climate-proof cities are being developed. There, researchers and students from the University of Groningen and Hanze University of Applied Sciences are working together on a wide array of solutions. In addition to tackling heat stress, they are also investigating rainwater harvesting, storage, purification and consumption, CO2 reduction, and other ways to make future cities more sustainable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Shading and planting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cShading and greening cities are the two most important aspects of tackling heat stress in the cities. We provide innovative shading techniques at our testing ground,\u201d says Floris Boogaard, professor of&nbsp;Spatial Transformations at the Hanze University of Applied Sciences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hanze University of Applied Sciences partnered up with startup The Leaf to design three different types of pergolas. A pergola is a structure consisting of vertical columns that support a roof, which both act as a shade and as a support for plants to grow. The three prototypes are of different shapes and are placed in the experimental testing ground. Besides tackling heat stress, these pergolas capture water and help expand biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the three prototypes named &#8220;The Square&#8221; contains sedum containers on the roof that can collect up to 155 liters of water. Tests have shown that The Square can lower the temperature by 9\u00b0C on hot summer days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64183b35232873.51689882-1004x565.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-454958\" width=\"840\" height=\"472\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Square<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Fake Tree with multiple purposes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Cities, especially city centers can be up to seven degrees warmer than the suburbs. Mostly because of stone constructions and a lack of trees. However beneficial, they can take up a lot of space under the ground because of the way their roots grow. This can become problematic. Cables, sewers, and pipes might need to be relocated in order to plant new trees. Niels Kuijpens, a student of Industrial product design at Hanze University is working on a prototype of a fake tree. The idea is to place a fake tree that can be made with recycled materials and ivy leaves can be wrapped around them to make them green. The tree is designed in a way that&nbsp;it can collect and store rainwater in the water reservoir that is in&nbsp;its&nbsp;trunk. That water&nbsp;can&nbsp;not only&nbsp;be&nbsp;used to feed the ivy&nbsp;plant&nbsp;but also provide additional ballast and can be used by the local residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.ioplus.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/64d102663f1119.05963174-1004x669.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-454959\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A prototype of the fake tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Light-reflecting pavement and asphalt<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Furthermore, a light-reflecting pavement is being tested at the training ground. With&nbsp;this&nbsp;pavement, the city can heat up less&nbsp;during&nbsp;summer days.&nbsp;Various colors of&nbsp;the&nbsp;pavements&nbsp;are&nbsp;being&nbsp;compared with conventional colors.&nbsp;The&nbsp;pavement\u2019s stones reflect the light from cars and bike headlights so that street lighting can work with less power.&nbsp;These&nbsp;light-reflecting stones&nbsp;also&nbsp;heat up less than&nbsp;traditional&nbsp;dark stones.&nbsp;The temperature differences&nbsp;can&nbsp;vary from 5 to 12\u00b0C in the summer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Similarly, the light-reflecting asphalt being tested on the training ground reflects headlights and public lighting.&nbsp;This kind of&nbsp;asphalt heats up less than the conventional dark asphalt&nbsp;and&nbsp;temperature differences&nbsp;may&nbsp;vary from 8 to 15 \u00b0C in the summer.&nbsp;What\u2019s more, it also helps reduce noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"io-block io-block__box\"><h2>Europe battling heat<\/h2><p>Europe is breaking heat record after heat record this summer. ESA\u00a0\u00a0predicts temperatures of 49 degrees, the ground temperature in Spain soared above 60 degrees Celsius, and more\u00a0than 60,000 people died from heat in 2022.\u00a0<br><br>Something is going wrong. That the earth keeps warming up, for a start, but besides that, EU member states&#8217; heat plans are insufficient, while the need for them is growing.\u00a0<br><br>In the series &#8216;Europe battling heat&#8217; the central question is: how does Europe arm itself against heat? In the coming weeks, you can expect an article every Wednesday in which Innovation Origins solves a piece of that question. Today: innovative ways to build climate-proof cities<em>.<\/em> <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Time to step up against heat stress<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Boogaard believes that we need more innovative ideas such as these to tackle heat stress. The testing ground keeps developing new ideas for how our future cities should be built. Even though Groningen\u2019s living lab helps cope with heat stress, he believes that, first and foremost, the government and the citizens have to work together to tackle climate change. \u201cOur goal is to tackle the rising heat in the cities by 2050 but 2050 is a lot closer than it seems to be\u201d, he says. So, there is enough work to be done.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-basic wp-block-visual-link-preview-link advgb-dyn-449b716d\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/record-high-temperatures-unveil-the-harsh-reality-of-urban-heat-islands\/\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"Record high temperatures unveil the harsh reality of urban heat islands\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-image\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-title\">Record high temperatures unveil the harsh reality of urban heat islands<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-summary\">Heat has emerged as one of Europe&#8217;s greatest enemies. In the new series &#8216;Europe battling heat&#8216;, IO finds out how cities (can) arm themselves against &hellip; <a href=\"\">Continued<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Heat has emerged as one of Europe\u2019s greatest enemies. In the new series&nbsp;\u2018Europe battling heat\u2018, IO finds out how cities (can) arm themselves against it. Today:&nbsp;innovative ways to build climate-proof cities. Similar to floods and droughts, heat stress is a major challenge to deal with in climate adaptation. Heat records are being broken every year [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2591,"featured_media":494572,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[79689],"tags":[31078,79687],"location":[66582,6763],"article_type":[43139],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-454948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe-battling-the-heat","tag-climate-change","tag-europe-battling-heat","location-europe","location-netherlands","article_type-features"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"Our cities cannot handle severe heat stress, and necessary measures need to be taken to make them more adequate for habitation.","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Shwet Parag","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/shwet-parag\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/groningen.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/europe-battling-the-heat\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Europe battling the heat<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Europe battling the heat<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/europe-battling-the-heat\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">climate change<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/europe-battling-the-heat\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Europe battling heat<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">climate change<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Europe battling heat<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 9, 2023","modified":"Updated on August 9, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 9, 2023 6:30 am","modified":"Updated on August 9, 2023 6:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454948","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2591"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454948"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=454948"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=454948"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=454948"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=454948"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=454948"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=454948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}