1.5 Community Connection

Green Infrastructure

What to expect

During this activity you will explore the green infrastructure in your community. How does green infrastructure help moderate heat islands in your neighborhood and city?

Connections

Green infrastructure is "the range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evapotranspirate stormwater and reduce flows to sewer systems or to surface waters." (Water Structure Improvement Act, Congress, 2019). The Environmental Protection Agency describes many types of green infrastructure including: urban tree canopy and green roofs.

Learn about Green Roofs in Chicago

Feeling Impatient? Click the 1 minute video below

Have the time to learn why this is the best city in the world?

Click the video below (about 8 minutes)

Why would plants growing on a building’s roof help reduce the heat in an area during summer?

Figure 1. An illustration of the process of transpiration. Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Figure 2. Chicago City Hall Green Roof

Figure 3. Chicago Climate Action Plan

Materials

Laptop or Computer
USB to Micro USB cable
micro:bit and access to the MakeCode Website
Part 1: Access to ArcGIS Urban Heat Island Map Tool
Part 2: Access to Max Min Thermometer MakeCode (Optional: Free Arduino Science Journal)

Part 1 Instructions

How are urban heat islands across the city affected by the history of Chicago?

From ArcGIS:

The Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) was a New Deal era program that graded neighborhoods based on loan risk. Affluent areas were often graded as “A” or “Desirable” due to the low perceived risk of loan default. The riskiest grade was “D” or “Hazardous”.

These grades resulted in lending practices that created de facto class and racial segregation in many areas. Many years later we are finding that these “D” areas are also associated with more extreme urban heat island effects, due to their lack of tree canopy, greater impervious surface percentage and more dense development.

But, these same areas are producing some of the most innovative green infrastructure in the nation. Explore the area around your home, school, or work.

Watch the short video for directions then open ArcGIS by clicking the question below the video.

Open ArcGIS: Is the urban heat island effect affecting you and your community?

Part 2 Instructions

Where could green infrastructure make a positive impact in your community?

In this activity you are going to split into small groups and explore the neighborhood surrounding your school to find the places that retain the most heat and those that stay the coolest. You’ll use the temperature data you collect to identify where the heat island phenomenon could be moderated around your school or neighborhood.

micro:bit video above will show you how to code your micro:bit for this activity

If you don't have much time and want to download the completed micro:bit code

Split into small teams. Each team will find 3-4 places to gather temperature data. Code your micro:bit to use the internal temperature sensor to identify maximum and minimum temperatures over periods of time by following the directions in the video (left side), or download the complete code from the link above (right side) if you don’t have enough time to code it yourself.

Look for a variety of sites. What types of sites do you think will show the heat island effect? What types of sites will protect people from it? Can you find any sites with green infrastructure like tree canopy, green roofs, or pavement that allows water to move through it?

Plug the battery pack into the micro:bit. Wait for the dots to start moving across the display. Place the micro:bit on the ground or a surface outside.

If you have Arduino Science Journal on your phone from a STEM class, feel free to use it and play around with other sensors like brightness as you collect data. Otherwise, you can use your phone or paper to write down the minimum and maximum temperatures at each site.

Go to your first site. Wait 3-5 minutes while the micro:bit collects data. Press A to find the minimum temperature. Press B to find the maximum temperature. You will need to unplug the micro:bit from the battery pack between sites to reset it.

6. Take a picture of each site.

7. As a club, get ready to share your ideas about what kind of green infrastructure is needed in the neighborhood and why it would help control temperatures during heat waves.

8. Click on this link to the school folders and open the slides for your school. Add your temperature data and images.

9. What ideas do you have for adding green infrastructure around your school or neighborhood? We want you to share those great ideas with a community partner. (Photo UNEP/Irene Fagotto)

Invite your community partner to come in to SUPERCHARGE to share your data and ideas, and to learn how they work with the community around environmental issues, including issues of heat and safety. Click the link below for your school partner when you're ready to invite them in.

Farragut Community Partner: Latinos Progresando

Roosevelt Community Partner: North River Commission

Simeon Community Partner: GAGDC

Westinghouse Community Partner: Breakthrough Ministries

Feedback Link

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