#urbanisme

Photo originale par Steph-Photo

.

Plaisir de découvrir ce jour ce recueil qui multiplie les regards poétiques sur la ville sous la plume de nombreux auteurs et auquel j’ai la joie de participer !

Merci à Hélène Lécot, éditrice des Editions du Bunker, pour ce beau projet au cœur de nos vies citadines, d’autant plus précieux que certains poèmes orneront les murs aveugles et silencieux de nos villes.

Une belle TRAM.ES urbaine qui nous mène vers des images multiformes, renouvelées et fortes sur notre quotidien urbain.

Parution le 9 avril 2026 !

Yes, cities are hot as heck this year. No, low-density sprawl isn't the answer (in fact it's a major culprit).

by Darin Givens | August 10, 2026

2026 has been a grueling year for heat in many cities, with urban heat islands getting a lot of focus, and rightly so. According to this Reuters report, “while some permeable and moist surfaces, like grass or soil, absorb less heat, other construction materials like asphalt or concrete are capable of absorbing as much as 95% of the sun’s energy, which is then radiated back into the surrounding atmosphere.”

The effect has been deadly this year, particularly with the heat dome in Europe.

And while mitigation of urban heat islands with known solutions is crucially important, so is addressing the climate crisis that worsens their effect. And that's a level of complexity that needs to be addressed. Any argument that lays blame on cities for their own extreme heat this year is getting the larger climate equation wrong.

It’s irrefutably true that car-dependent, low-density sprawl amplifies our emissions in multiple ways: through increased vehicle miles traveled, destruction of natural carbon sinks such as forests and wetlands, wasted energy from low-density infrastructure, and more.

The carbon footprint of sprawl is has a huge effect on climate change; and as our climate warms, heat domes will become more likely, and they'll make urban heat islands even hotter.

Without following the thread closely, it may be tempting to view denser urban fabric as a scourge because of its heat islands, while viewing sprawl as a balm for the climate by way of the greenery around detached homes.

I understand that it might be confusing. Suburbs can have cooler microclimates (as long as you’re away from the wide roads and parking lots) and urban heat islands exist to some degree even without this year’s temperatures. But the situation is more complex than it may seem at first glance.

We have to look at the higher per-capita carbon footprint caused by sprawl: as the UN panel on climate change has reported, households in low-density, sprawling places emit significantly more greenhouse gas per capita than urban homes due to higher energy use and destruction of natural ecosystems.

Those higher levels of emissions elevate global baseline temperatures. Due to the overall hotter temperatures, urban heat islands in cities are becoming worse. It’s a dangerous environmental relationship that’s causing tragic health issues globally, and that’s hurting the walkable cities we desperately need.

And make no mistake: pedestrian-oriented, denser urbanism is the solution for a more sustainable future for our built environments, not the enemy.

When daily necessities are located within a walkable or bikeable distance – or within an easy bus ride – the use of personal cars ceases to be a requirement for all trips. And higher population density can provide the ridership that’s necessary to make mass transit more viable and more efficient: the FTA explicitly states that dense, walkable, mixed-use development increases ridership for transit.

Additionally, multi-family buildings with shared walls minimize thermal leaks, dramatically reducing a home’s exposed surface area. A household in a multi-unit building consumes much less energy for heating and cooling than a standalone, detached suburban home.

There are many details that have to be tended to in these urban environments to achieve the best results, no doubt. Cities need trees and parks and great pedestrian/bike infrastructure and more – density needs to be done well. So let’s do it well, while employing targeted strategies for cooling heat islands.

This data about the sustainability benefits of pedestrian-scaled urbanism has literally been available to us for decades through qualified sources like the EPA, but I fear the information is slipping away from us amid the noise of daily news intake and the various crucial issues that are understandably occupying our attention.