The Urban Heat Island Effect in Smart Communities, with Dr. Kelly Turner

Hi #smartcommunity friends. In this jam-packed episode of the Smart Community Podcast I have a great conversation with Dr. Kelly Turner, an assistant professor of urban planning at UCLA. Kelly begins by telling us about her current role and affiliations, her interesting and diverse background starting in politics, how her passion for research then led her to a PhD in Geography and Kelly tells us what a Smart Community is to her and how her current work fits into the Smart Communities space. Kelly then dives into the urban heat island effect and discusses some of the factors that contribute to heat retention in cities. She talks about how communities can make 'cooler' decisions and what factors contribute to reducing heat, we talk about the need to flip the script on heat retention issues, have better accountability and better ways to measure these issues to drive change. Kelly then tells us about cool paint and some examples of how it can reduce surface temperatures in cities, before we discuss the pros and cons of technology and the second order impacts associated. Kelly then shares some examples of how communities in the US are working towards more heat resilient cities, how some communities are more vulnerable than others, and shares some examples of the data and technology she uses to measure heat. We finish our conversation talking about the emerging trends of innovative and inventive ways to deal with and mitigate heat, and make cities more palatable. As always, we hope you enjoyed this episode as much as we enjoyed making it! Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Kelly via Twitter, Instagram or the UCLA Website Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.