Why Your City Feels Hotter: The Science Behind Trees, Concrete and a 10°C Gap

Can trees cool cities? On a heatwave afternoon, you already know the answer — if you know where to stand. The heat you can feel, street by street Step out in Mumbai on a peak summer afternoon, and the heat doesn’t feel uniform. In dense, built-up neighbourhoods, temperatures can hover around 43°C. A short drive away, where tree-lined roads and parks break up the concrete, it can drop to nearly 32°C. Move further towards greener edges near the city’s outskirts, and it can fall to 25–26°C. Same city. Same hour. A gap of more than 10°C. This isn’t anecdotal. A 2023 data-driven analysis by Sust...