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Climate Detectives Projects 2022-2023

Project topic: Climate change

Project title: Temperatures in the city

Team: Green Cities

Henriques Nogueira   Torres Vedras   Portugal   8 Student’s age: 14-15 years old, 16-17 years old

Research question

Do green spaces in the city affect local temperature?

Summary of the project
Excerpt of interview made at the City hall of Torres Vedras

• We started the project by researching information about climate change and its problems and about temperatures. Using the temperatures from each year we made a graphic showing the average temperatures in the west of Portugal from 2011 to 2022.
• We contacted the City Council to do an interview and gathered some questions to ask the experts in the field of green spaces;
• We used thermometers to measure the temperatures in order to have a more precise comparison of temperatures on urbanized zones versus green spaces;
• We made three graphics, one with the temperatures of Torres Vedras, another with the temperatures of Portugal and finally, one with world temperatures. We compare the graphics to verify if there was an increase or a decrease in the temperatures;
• We produced a flyer, a presentation and a website.

Main results and Conclusions
This graphic relates the measured temperatures to the days on which they were measured, the orange and blue colors represent green spaces, and the yellow and grey colors represent urban spaces.

Eventually, due to the proximity of the sea, it appears that in Torres Vedras there is a smaller fluctuation in temperature values when compared to the average values of the rest of the country. We decided to make a comparison between green areas and urbanized areas within the city. Measurements were carried out over several days, always at the same time and in the same place. It was concluded that green spaces have a lower temperature

What’s Next? Actions to make a difference and help lessen the problem
summary of main ideas and QR code for our website

We conclude that although they were not designed for this purpose, in our city, green spaces are important to reduce the impacts of global warming. As such, our suggestion is to alert the population to the importance of preserving already existing green spaces and, on the other hand, to promote the creation of green spaces on balconies or in backyards. In addition, it will also be important to continue the municipality’s commitment to community gardens, as well as their dissemination and promotion in the community.
It should be noted that there are several studies that prove the importance of community gardens in cities, with significant impacts on improving the quality of life of people.

Project link:

https://sites.google.com/view/espacos-verdes-green-cities/p%C3%A1gina-inicial?authuser=2&fbclid=IwAR1gpTg2iimh7hCX-_Oq5GE2a61pR5gmyA51ICs5S3g-vtZ6tqXtgWLLKMQ

Project poster:

Download project poster PDF

Projects are created by the teams and they take the full responsibility of the shared data.
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