The Urban Livability Index (ULI) is a geospatial model that measures the impact of the urban heat island effect on New York City from remote sensing/ insitu temperature measurement and socioeconomic perspective. The ULI is a function of the intensity of the urban heat island effect, and the identification of at-risk populations using a weighted framework. The contribution of this work is to operationalize interconnected factors that are not typically addressed in the literature. Remote sensing and Geographic Information Systems(GIS) will be utilized to process the temperature and socioeconomic data that will comprise the spatial index. A series of statistical techniques will be deployed to identify the at-risk populations within the city. Primarily, a new methodology will be deployed that combines remote sensing reflectance and insitu temperature measurements to develop a new vulnerability index. Essentially, the index reflects a more complete impact that temperature can have upon the body. The index will be further utilized to understand the demographics that are affected. Furthermore, hospitalization data will be correlated to the Urban Livability Index to validate the model. Therefore, the primary objective of this research is to examine the effects of UHI from an interconnected perspective providing better insights into the challenges and developing planning solutions for mitigation.
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