Publication Details
Abstract
This study indicate that the urban heat island phenomenon in Iraqi cities has significantly worsened over the past two decades, due to intertwined factors that include unplanned urban expansion, heat emissions from private power generators, unregulated industrial activity, and the absence of green infrastructure. Comparison with similar regional and international studies revealed that Iraq faces relatively harsher heat conditions, resulting from the fragility of the electrical system, the scarcity of green spaces, and the inefficiency of urban planning. Government and field measurements revealed that local temperature in highly generator-concentrated districts was greater than in districts with an uninterrupted supply of electricity by up to 4.5°C. Studies have also shown that illegal workshops and small factories generate an elevation in local temperature of at least 3°C, in addition to deteriorating air quality and increasing thermal and particulate emissions. Environmentally, unusual heat is a cause of changes in the ecological system of the urban environment, excessive evaporation of water, soil degradation of the quality of the agricultural soil, and decreased oxygen levels of rivers in the city. Health-wise, the phenomenon causes an epidemic of heat stress, asthma, and respiratory diseases not to mention nocturnal sleep and psychiatric disorders as a result of burning hot waves.