What is the main cause of Urban City X being an urban heat island?

Urban heat islands (UHIs) are areas within cities that experience significantly higher temperatures than their rural surroundings due to human activities and alterations to the environment. The primary cause of Urban City X being an urban heat island is the construction of parking areas and road systems.

These features generally consist of materials like asphalt and concrete, which absorb and retain heat from the sun more effectively than natural landscapes. As a result, when the sun shines on these surfaces, they can rapidly heat up, increasing the overall temperature of the urban area. Additionally, hard surfaces like roads and parking lots limit the amount of vegetation that can cool the area through processes like evapotranspiration, further exacerbating the heat effect.

In contrast, the planting of trees and other vegetation, the building of rooftop gardens, and the installation of solar panels are initiatives typically aimed at mitigating urban heat. Trees provide shade and release moisture into the air, while green roofs can lower temperatures through similar processes. Solar panels, while they do change the surface area, are not typically designed to combat heat but rather to generate energy, and they can still contribute to heat retention if they cover significant areas. Thus, these options do not contribute to the heat island effect in the same way that extensive impervious