{"id":113310,"date":"2026-02-13T19:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/113310\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T19:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T19:22:08","slug":"pittsburghs-low-income-neighborhoods-are-hotter-due-to-more-asphalt-and-fewer-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/113310\/","title":{"rendered":"Pittsburgh’s low-income neighborhoods are hotter due to more asphalt and fewer trees"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new study from Carnegie Mellon University found the color of roofs and paved surfaces can make a big difference in quality of life in Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

The study sought to classify solid urban surfaces using terms such as \u201clight\u201d and \u201cdark,\u201d rather than scientific terms to describe a surface\u2019s reflectivity.<\/p>\n

Darker colors absorb more heat, while lighter colors reflect it. Areas with a lot of dark pavement are hotter than those with lighter-colored surfaces or green spaces.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe major purpose of this study is really to find the language and the tools for the policy makers to use to be able to make a smart decision on our city surface choices,\u201d said Suzy Li, an adjunct professor at CMU\u2019s School of Architecture and the study\u2019s lead author.<\/p>\n

Neighborhoods in Pa. cities can get up to 13 degrees hotter due to urban environment<\/a><\/p>\n

Li said her team trained machine learning software to organize satellite images of the city\u2019s surfaces into light and dark colors.<\/p>\n

They found 55% of the city is made up of impervious surfaces, which includes pavement and roofs. Of those surfaces, 52% are dark.<\/p>\n

But the colors are not equally distributed across Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Li said neighborhoods that were historically subject to\u00a0discriminatory housing policies known as redlining<\/a>, and which still often have higher populations of poor and minority residents, have a higher share of dark surfaces.<\/p>\n

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Pittsburgh\u2019s redlined neighborhoods have 12% more dark surfaces and 10% less tree cover than other areas, Li said. Those areas are 4.7 degrees Fahrenheit hotter on average, compared to other neighborhoods, which creates greater health risks on very hot days.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis can help the city officials to know where should they act first. Which neighborhoods do they need to work on these interventions first?\u201d Li said.<\/p>\n

Solutions include using lighter paving materials and planting trees.<\/p>\n

Li said planners should also consider the porousness of paving surfaces. Materials that absorb more rainfall can help prevent flooding during storms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new study from Carnegie Mellon University found the color of roofs and paved surfaces can make a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[54120,3667,73,75,74,5533],"class_list":["post-113310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-13-february-2026-episode","tag-heat-wave","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news","tag-trees"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}