Rapid urbanization and population growth shape the current trends of urban planning. By supplying the demand for society expansion and housing, urban areas are more compact, creating more impermeable surfaces and reducing their green spaces. These factors, combining with climate aggravation as a consequence of climate change, create the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and increase Urban Heat (UH) in already hot cities. UHI effect is described as the temperature difference between urban areas and its surrounding rural areas. Higher temperatures in urban areas cause thermal discomfort and health issues to the inhabitants. This is considerably visible in tropical hot and humid climates, such as the coastal city of Barranquilla, where temperatures can reach 34°C with relative humidity of 85% or more. Therefore, to tackle this issue, it is necessary to adapt urban planning and development to the specific climate of the city, considering UH as a starting point for design. The main findings that enabled to achieve the general objective of this thesis “UH mitigation strategies in urban planning” were the following: first, LST and hotspot mapping of Barranquilla allowed the identification of the critical point (higher temperatures) of the city. The LST and UHI study of this thesis and previous studies confirmed the existence of urban heat in the city as a consequence of inadequate urban development. Second, governance and urban planning analysis provided a broad view of the development of the city and the main causes that create UH. This was essential to link how depending on the zone of the city, certain urban design and socioeconomic activities will affect the UH, in this case, southern and low-income neighborhoods with higher industrial and commercial activity and highly built-up housing exhibited the highest temperatures. Lastly, UH mitigation strategies were proposed based on the literature review of UH in tropical cities, which opens future discussions and research over the current practices of urban planning in Barranquilla.
Angelica Maria Fernandez Rubio (Thu,) studied this question.