Heat Exposure of Deprivation Through Air Temperature Modelling

Many studies are pointing to the fact that cities are experiencing higher temperatures than non-built-up areas. Yet limited can be found on thermal inequalities in the context of vulnerable groups, specifically linked to people living in deprivation. Here, we study heat patterns across vulnerable groups living in deprivation as an important effort that should be paralleled to the other urban climate studies and aim at answering two primary questions: (1) how temperature varies within and across deprived areas, and (2) what the key driving factors are for such variation. We conduct intensive in-situ measurements by involving local residents in air temperature traverse across deprived neighbourhoods and modelling the pattern of air temperature with spatial covariates. We also compare different modelling techniques while securing the interpretability of the air temperature pattern by using understandable spatial covariates, which is especially informative for mitigation and adaptation, and linking scientific exploration and practical solutions.