Academic Reading 5 — Multiple Select

Cities are often warmer than surrounding rural areas, a pattern known as the urban heat island effect. Several features of the built environment contribute to this difference. Dark surfaces such as asphalt absorb a large portion of incoming solar energy during the day and release some of that stored heat after sunset. Buildings can also reduce air circulation, while vehicles and air-conditioning systems add waste heat to the environment. Vegetation tends to moderate temperatures because leaves provide shade and because plants release water vapor through transpiration. For this reason, urban planners increasingly use trees, parks, reflective roofs, and permeable surfaces as cooling strategies. These interventions do not affect every neighborhood equally. Their effectiveness depends on local climate, building density, available water, and maintenance. Researchers therefore caution against assuming that a single strategy will produce the same result everywhere. Instead, they recommend combining temperature measurements with neighborhood-level data before selecting interventions. The urban heat island effect is important not only because it influences comfort but also because high nighttime temperatures can increase health risks during heat waves by limiting the body’s opportunity to recover from daytime heat.
Select TWO cooling strategies mentioned in the passage.