Smart City Planning

Stuttgart, Germany is located in a deep river valley surrounded by green hills. Valley locations like Stuttgart usually have low winds blowing through the city. As a result, they can have poor air quality and higher temperatures. As residents in Stuttgart became aware of the phenomenon, they took steps to mitigate the urban heat island effect.

Stuttgart, which was once at risk of being a heat island, is now one of the 'coolest cities in the world'. The city is designed to maximize the cooling effects of the hills and forests that surround it. Streets, buildings, and trees are all strategically placed to allow the air from the mountains to flow freely. The city also has 300,000 square meters (186 square miles) of green rooftops which help to absorb heat and keep the city cool. Greenery covers almost 60% of the city.

A regulation in Stuttgart requires than any new building constructed with a flat roof must make it a green roof.
(©Diane Cook, Len Jenshel/National Geographic)
People enjoying an open air cinema in one of the parks in Stuttgart, Germany.(©Frank Gaertner/Shutterstock)
Stuttgart even tested putting green roofs on city busses.
(© MSeses/Wikipedia)
A walking path in Killesberg park in Stuttgart.
(© Bernd Schmidt/Shutterstock)
The Stuttgart Government introduced laws to maintain critical open space that maximizes airflow through the city. Almost 40% of the surface area of the city is protected as nature conservation areas. Since bigger trees can sequester more carbon, a tree preservation law protects any tree that is both above 1 meter in height and 80 centimeters in circumference. The principles used in Stuttgart to combat the urban heat island effect have now been adopted by other cities such as Berlin, Germany and Kobe, Japan.
A wide view of the city of Stuttgart with is many trees. (© ilolab/Bigstock)
An insurance company in Stuttgart has put a green roof on every tier of their building.
(©Pedro Szekely/Flickr)

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  • absorption

    noun

    A type of transfer where a substance takes in another substance or energy.

  • conservation

    noun

    The protection of something in the natural world.

  • evapotranspiration

    noun

    The transfer of water from plants into water vapor in the atmosphere.

  • mitigation

    noun

    The process of limiting the impact of something.

  • preservation

    noun

    The action of taking care of or protecting something.

  • sequester

    verb

    To take in or isolate something.

  • atmosphere

    noun

    A layer of gas that surrounds the surface of a planet.

  • erosion

    noun

    The movement of broken down, or weathered, material.

  • greenery

    noun

    Plants or vegetation

  • photosynthesis

    noun

    The process plants use to make food from sunlight, carbon dioxide, and water.

  • radiate

    verb

    To give off energy, such as heat, in the form of waves.

  • storm water

    noun

    Excess water from a storm the ground cannot absorb quick enough.

  • concentration

    noun

    A relatively close cluster of objects.

  • evaporation

    verb

    The process a liquid goes through to change into a gas.

  • habitat

    noun

    The natural environment of an organism.

  • pollutant

    noun

    A substance that is considered to be unnatural or undesired in the environment and can cause harm to plants or animals.

  • runoff

    noun

    Water from rain or snow that flows over the surface of the land.

  • vegetation

    noun

    Any and all plant life found in a particular area.