McGill pilot projects aims to cool off Montreal with small green spaces

Using a sensor that looks like a white pleated lawn lantern connected to a Wi-Fi router, Raja Sengupta measures the temperature around McGill University's downtown Montreal campus.

It's part of a pilot project with the city to measure the exact impact even a small amount of greenery can have on how hot that space feels.

"We know the urban spaces are warmer than the rural areas surrounding them might be. And with climate change that's getting worse," said Sengupta, a geography professor at the university.

But he wants to find out just how helpful these small spaces are in countering the urban heat island effect.

Recording temperature and humidity in an area throughout the day has long been costly and complicated. The sensors used by Environment Canada, which Sengputa calls the "gold standard," are bulky and cost thousands of dollars.

There are five of those sensors on the Island of Montreal which already show the heart of the city is warmer than its outskirts, despite the presence of spaces like Mont-Royal.

Sengputa is using 40 small, battery-operated sensors that cost about $40 each.

To replicate Environment Canada's methods, the portable sensors are placed 1.3 metres above ground and measure temperature and humidity every 15 minutes. Using long-distance wireless technology, the data is automatically transmitted to researchers' servers.

Researchers hope to get more sensors and expand to the downtown core. They partnered with the Peter McGill Community Council, a non-profit organization and neighbourhood roundtable, to identify more spaces where researchers can place the sensors.

The community group can then use the data to push for more green space in the neighbourhood.

"We can do the research but we need someone on the ground who can actually make a change," said Sengupta.

Limited, preliminary data from the last year shows sensors placed in small green spaces are up to one degree cooler than those surrounded by concrete.

"(It) doesn't sound like that much but when the weather hits up to 30 degrees, that one degree makes a difference," said Sengupta.

Sengupta noted poorer neighbourhoods are harder hit by the urban heat island effect, making the issue all the more urgent.