Economic activities and heat generation at selected locations in Kuala Lumpur

Daily activities in the city, such as at offices, night markets, stalls at the roadsides, shopping complexes, tourist areas, traffic and others, have an impact on physical environment. As increases in daily temperature are expected within the Kuala Lumpur environment this study attempts to analyse the phenomenon at four popular areas of human activities within Kuala Lumpur. The focal areas were the China town business area (Jalan Petaling), Kampong Baru, Little India and the green area of Bukit Nenas. Temperature, relative humidity and wind speed data were measured for two days at 20:00 – 23:00 hour by using mini hygro thermo-anemometer Extech’s Model 45158. The result showed that China town business area (Jalan Petaling) recorded a temperature of 1.0°C higher than the green area and more than 0.5°C than Kampong Baru and Little India. The recorded temperatures at China town had an urban heat island intensity of 1.0°C compared to those of the green area. The observed temperature pattern was derived from night business activities in the China town, especially food cooking, which were capable of generating environmental heat load thus increased the night temperature. In addition, the China town area was of a narrow corridor and hence crowded with hawkers selling dry goods and hot cooked food. Comparatively, Bukit Nenas was a green and a more open area, Little India was also an open area with some trees planted along the road, while the situation in Kampong Baru was relatively less crowded, even though night business activities prevailed. On the whole, heat generation was the outcome of crowdedness of population and business activities catering to clients buying goods and eating outdoor.