Track: Student Paper Competition

Abstract

A period of rapid industrialization and urban expansion has pushed cities to build skyscrapers, streets, and homes often at the expense of plant life and vegetation. Only until recently have people realized that uprooting plant life has led to a number of negative consequences, one of which is the Urban Heat Island Effect. To mitigate its effects, urban planners, especially in the United States, and some European countries, have been using rooftop gardens as a way to reintegrate vegetation in urban areas

The purpose of this research is to study the effectiveness of rooftop gardens in reducing the Urban Heat Island Effect in the climate and conditions in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This research uses a designed experiment to measure the extent of the effects. Model buildings with and without a rooftop garden were used in the experiment. The internal temperature of each building was recorded at regular intervals for a period of time, and the results were then compared

The results indicated that there is a difference in temperatures between the two buildings especially in the peak temperatures. It is expected that if rooftop gardens were implemented on a large scale, not only will they help in reducing the Urban Heat Island effect, but they could also reduce energy consumption, and therefore energy bills