Areas that were once permeable and moist become impermeable and dry because of urban areas development, and constant construction of city roads and other urban infrastructure. This considerably reduces evaporation, which helps in air temperature reduction. Complex urban geometry prevents the natural wind flow, while the urban canyons absorb solar energy reflected and absorbed by building walls, which further increases the average temperature of urbanized areas in relation to temperature of surrounding rural areas. Research shows that the use of appropriate materials for traffic surfaces and building roofs can reduce the increased warming effect, the so called heat island effect, in the center. Dark materials (e.g. asphalt) are often used in construction and rehabilitation of traffic surfaces without taking into account that they absorb more energy than lighter material (e.g. concrete). All of the above directly affects the formation of urban heat islands. This phenomenon is thoroughly investigated in the U.S., Australia and partially in some European studies and is recognized as a significant environmental problem of cities today.
During the summer of 2011 temperature tests were made on different types of pavement surfacing, on pedestrian and other roads in the Rijeka city centre. This paper will present the results concerning the temperature of different types of road surface that are commonly found in city centres, such as asphalt, stone, concrete surfaces and land surfaces. Tests were conducted during the summer months when the road surface temperature is reaching its peak. The behaviour of these surfaces considering sunlight, colour and traffic load will be analyzed and a comparison with air temperature will be shown. A result analysis will be used to define the possible heat island effect reduction measures.

pavement surfaces, urban areas, temperature, asphalt, concrete