Dear MEL Topic Readers,
'Heat gap': Why some city districts are hotter than others
In some urban cities like Los Angeles, Baltimore, and Washington DC in the USA and Cape Town and Johannesburg in South Africa, and Doha in Qatar, where a distinct gap exists between the rich and the others, there seem to be considerable temperature gaps between the districts. It is called the heat gap, or intraurban variability of temperature, which is caused by a variety of factors including building structures, air-conditioning installations, relative green spaces and trees, and pavement. Such structural gaps have been created over a long period of time by wealth and racial segregation. Indeed, the rich can afford to buy and live in well-constructed houses with air conditioning in nice neighborhoods where there are more greens and trees while those who earn less have no choice but to live in old houses or apartments in less invested and maintained areas. Also, such disparity and inequality are inherited from generation to generation due to education and segregation. The heat gap isn’t just the temperature gap but also the social gap.
So, will global warming also segregate people more?
Read the article and learn about the heat gap.
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