5
Urban Heat Island Growth
and Health Hazard in the Megacity
of Hyderabad
Ghazal Salahuddin
Abstract
Urban heat island refers to considerably
higher temperatures in the large and contiguous high density built-up surface of a city as
compared with its surrounding open countryside. Hence, urban heat island is a phenomenon of excessive heat dome in the C.B.
D. of large cities. Urban heat island is one of
the major environmental issues of microclimate. At the same time, heat islands are the
nuclei of global warming and climate change.
The paper hypothesizes that the intensity of
urban heat island grows in proportion to the
city size and function. It also hypothesizes that
the nocturnal heat island of megacities heavily
erodes the comfort level of the hard-working
city dwellers and tends to undermine their
health. Although the problem of heat islands
has already attained a critical level in the
megacities, even then megacities are more
rapidly growing in the developing countries,
particularly India than in the developed countries. It is because the concentration of factors
of production and migrant sustainability is
highest in the megacities of disequilibrated
centralized economies as compared with the
equilibrated economies of the developed
countries. This is evident from the fact that
India with just over 30% urban population has
more number of megacities than the USA with
75% urban population. The paper examines
the urban heat island growth of Hyderabad in
relation to its area and population growth
during 1961–2011. The megacity of Hyderabad has an areal extent of over 851 sq.km.
with a corresponding population exceeding
7.74 million persons. The city has witnessed
an areal growth of 673 sq.km. and a population growth of 6.62 million persons since
1961. Urban heat island growth has been
calculated through linear regression analysis
of the mean monthly daytime and mean
monthly nocturnal temperature data for a
period of 50 years. It has been found that
the higher nocturnal heat island growth is
more hazardous to health than the relatively
lesser daytime heat island growth.
Keywords
Hyderabad Á Megacity Á Urban climate Á
Urban heat island Á Health hazard
G. Salahuddin (&)
Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India
e-mail: ghzl10@rediffmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
B. W. Pandey and S. Anand (eds.), Water Science and Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57488-8_5
43
Urban Heat Island Growth
and Health Hazard in the Megacity
of Hyderabad
Ghazal Salahuddin
Abstract
Urban heat island refers to considerably
higher temperatures in the large and contiguous high density built-up surface of a city as
compared with its surrounding open countryside. Hence, urban heat island is a phenomenon of excessive heat dome in the C.B.
D. of large cities. Urban heat island is one of
the major environmental issues of microclimate. At the same time, heat islands are the
nuclei of global warming and climate change.
The paper hypothesizes that the intensity of
urban heat island grows in proportion to the
city size and function. It also hypothesizes that
the nocturnal heat island of megacities heavily
erodes the comfort level of the hard-working
city dwellers and tends to undermine their
health. Although the problem of heat islands
has already attained a critical level in the
megacities, even then megacities are more
rapidly growing in the developing countries,
particularly India than in the developed countries. It is because the concentration of factors
of production and migrant sustainability is
highest in the megacities of disequilibrated
centralized economies as compared with the
equilibrated economies of the developed
countries. This is evident from the fact that
India with just over 30% urban population has
more number of megacities than the USA with
75% urban population. The paper examines
the urban heat island growth of Hyderabad in
relation to its area and population growth
during 1961–2011. The megacity of Hyderabad has an areal extent of over 851 sq.km.
with a corresponding population exceeding
7.74 million persons. The city has witnessed
an areal growth of 673 sq.km. and a population growth of 6.62 million persons since
1961. Urban heat island growth has been
calculated through linear regression analysis
of the mean monthly daytime and mean
monthly nocturnal temperature data for a
period of 50 years. It has been found that
the higher nocturnal heat island growth is
more hazardous to health than the relatively
lesser daytime heat island growth.
Keywords
Hyderabad Á Megacity Á Urban climate Á
Urban heat island Á Health hazard
G. Salahuddin (&)
Department of Geography, Aligarh Muslim
University, Aligarh 202002, Uttar Pradesh, India
e-mail: ghzl10@rediffmail.com
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
B. W. Pandey and S. Anand (eds.), Water Science and Sustainability, Sustainable Development Goals Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-57488-8_5
43