Being Green

Trees and plants make life better in a city, including improving air quality, providing homes to birds and insects, and cooling our streets. A recent heat-mapping campaign as part of the World Bank’s City Resilience Programme and the National Treasury’s Cities Support Programme found large temperature differences in parts of the city with densely-packed buildings and no trees, compared to leafier areas. In this week’s edition of Being Green, Glynis Crook speaks to atmospheric scientist Professor Roelof Burger about why this is and what needs to be done to improve the situation.