New facilities for improving well-being and sustainability: the case of cool pavement

Resumen

At present, the massive urbanization of cities, the great industrial activity or albedo havecaused the socalled urban heat islands. This phenomenon of thermal origin, usuallydeveloped in urban areas, is caused by the differences in temperature between the citycenter and its surroundings. According to the data, the average annual temperature of acity of one million inhabitants can be from 1 to 3ºC higher than those that would berecorded in its surroundings, even reaching 12ºC at night with calm winds. Due to thissituation, it is necessary to develop actions that reduce the effect of urban heat islands withthe aim of increasing the well-being of inhabitants and tourists. One of the possible solutionsis the change of the traditional black pavement for cool pavement, which is more ecologicaland has a less harmful impact on its the environment, know the perceptions that users haveabout the cool pavement in terms of utility, cost-benefit and satisfaction. To do this, aquantitative market research was carried out in a city from the South-East of Spain. Theresults of this study showed the users’ preference for cool pavement over traditional blackpavement so they identified more luminosity and less level of noise, as well as an increasein well-being, as the main benefits. In turn, this implied high levels of general satisfaction.