Create better blue spaces in urban areas

Within an urban setting, blue spaces are any body of water, including lakes, ponds, running streams, fountains, and swimming pools. When planned and maintained properly, they reduce heat islands. They might make things worse if they are improperly maintained or designed. The main way that water cools is via evaporating near the surface. However, it also absorbs heat, causing the temperature of standing water to rise throughout the day as sunshine heats the surface.

Artificial blue spaces, such as fountains powered by pumps, can actually increase the heat retention effect since pumps generate friction as they operate. They also increase the need for electricity, which is another factor in heat retention. When green areas are used alongside blue spaces, the cooling impact of the former is increased, thereby creating an island inside an island or a cool zone surrounded by a greater UHI. The UHI retains less heat overall when there are more of these islands.

It has been demonstrated that adding more blue spaces to metropolitan areas has advantages beyond just lowering temperatures. Living close to blue spaces has been demonstrated to have numerous benefits, including lowering obesity rates, improving physical activity, and reducing stress. Of course, centuries' worth of effluents entering the water in far too many metropolitan places must be cleaned up if people are to fully enjoy natural blue spaces, such as rivers.