On the influence of density and morphology on the Urban Heat Island intensity

Li, Yunfei; Schubert, Sebastian; Kropp, Jürgen P.; Rybski, Diego

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-16461-9

Cited by 183 publications

(121 citation statements)

References 66 publications

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“…For example, increased greening and reflective surface coverings have the potential to jointly reduce urban air temperatures by around 2-3 °C [15,16]. High-resolution regional climate model (RCM) simulations are particularly interesting in the study of urban regions and their climates, as they can represent the urban morphology at a finer scale [17][18][19] and improve on low resolution models which tend to underestimate urban temperatures, particularly in densely populated areas of cities, where the anthropogenic heat release is highest [14]. In this study, a high-resolution RCM is employed at the city level over Montreal to provide useful information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on urban temperatures.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of COVID-19-Related Traffic Slowdown on Urban Heat Characteristics

et al. 2021

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Governments around the world have implemented measures to slow down the spread of COVID-19, resulting in a substantial decrease in the usage of motorized transportation. The ensuing decrease in the emission of traffic-related heat and pollutants is expected to impact the environment through various pathways, especially near urban areas, where there is a higher concentration of traffic. In this study, we perform high-resolution urban climate simulations to assess the direct impact of the decrease in traffic-related heat emissions due to COVID-19 on urban temperature characteristics. One simulation spans the January–May 2020 period; two additional simulations spanning the April 2019–May 2020 period, with normal and reduced traffic, are used to assess the impacts throughout the year. These simulations are performed for the city of Montreal, the second largest urban centre in Canada. The mechanisms and main findings of this study are likely to be applicable to most large urban centres around the globe. The results show that an 80% reduction in traffic results in a decrease of up to 1 °C in the near-surface temperature for regions with heavy traffic. The magnitude of the temperature decrease varies substantially with the diurnal traffic cycle and also from day to day, being greatest when the near-surface wind speeds are low and there is a temperature inversion in the surface layer. This reduction in near-surface temperature is reflected by an up to 20% reduction in hot hours (when temperature exceeds 30 °C) during the warm season, thus reducing heat stress for vulnerable populations. No substantial changes occur outside of traffic corridors, indicating that potential reductions in traffic would need to be supplemented by additional measures to reduce urban temperatures and associated heat stress, especially in a warming climate, to ensure human health and well-being.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of COVID-19-Related Traffic Slowdown on Urban Heat Characteristics

et al. 2021

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“…Therefore, urban densification should be implemented along with transport policies to combat pollution, which can give better results at both city and local levels. High urban densities are often associated with fewer green areas and higher amounts of anthropogenic waste heat, which tends to increase the urban Teller Buildings and Cities DOI: 10.5334/bc.123 heat island (UHI) effect (Li et al 2020;Conticelli et al 2017). The impact of urban densification on the UHI effect has to be considered against those arising from an increased urban sprawl.…”

Section: Air Quality and Urban Microclimatementioning

confidence: 99%

Regulating urban densification: what factors should be used?

Teller

2021

Buildings and Cities

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Urban densification is increasingly accepted as a necessity and is important for no-net land take. Densification occurs in many places, especially fast-growing cities with a combination of demographic change, economic pressure and large transport infrastructure projects. The costs and benefits of density require a nuanced understanding: potential direct, indirect and cumulative effects (environmental, economic and social), both onand off-site. The optimisation of densities implies a need to identify the conditions that can create the most value for the city, specify the places most appropriate for future inhabitants and activities, and promote spatial justice. The papers published in this special issue converge in depicting urban densification as a complex, nonlinear process, which has to be addressed at various scales. Multifactorial metrics of density are superior to aggregated ones because they offer a better understanding of the urban forms and how they are experienced by inhabitants and users. Both hard and soft densification have to be duly monitored and regulated if cities are to avoid overcrowding of places and buildings, which can be detrimental to urban resilience. The relation between urban densification and housing affordability is a critical factor that policymakers must address. JACQUES TELLERRegulating urban densification: what factors should be used? 303 Teller Buildings and Cities

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“…Some researchers showed that natural and anthropogenic activities in urban areas simultaneously cause oppositely particular LST patterns (Chaudhuri and Kumar, 2020;Zhao et al, 2020;Shafaghat et al, 2016;Du et al, 2016b). With consistent urban development, the UHI zones may worsen the eco-environmental quality and fall under worst ecological level too (Li et al, 2020).…”

Section: Lstmentioning

confidence: 99%

SSD Analyze for the Assessment of Long Term Thermal Effect of Urbanization on the Izmir City’s Local Climate Change

Corumluoǧlu

2021

Preprint

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Background: Urbanization provides several opportunities to human being to live better and comfortable life. On the other hand, it also comes with some costs and side effects like worsen climate conditions. In local concept, pre-climate conditions in rural area can be called as natural when they are compared against post-climate conditions after urbanization expands over and swallows these natural areas. So, these natural conditions are changed to worsen conditions by some civic activities in cities through urbanization. One of the urbanization side effects is thermal pollution caused by specific urban activities and patterns on land surfaces in cities. Thus, thermal pollution changes city’s local climate and negatively affects the city’s comfort level at least locally. There are several researches focusing on that issue in cities. Each one made its contribution to the area to build up a strong knowledge. One great contribution comes from the researches focusing on analyzing time serious thermal data with continuous distribution over cities.Method: Here in this research is introduced and suggested a Simulated Single Data (SSD) statistical analyze method for the studies based on time serious data. Therefore the method was applied to Remote Sensing (RS) LANDSAT satellites’ bands especially to time series’ thermal bands of Izmir city to reveal where generally Urban Hot Spots (UHS) appear and Urban Heat Islands (UHI) develop in the city w.r.t. this SSD image from long period of time. Stereo representation of the study region is also used to visually examine the topographical effect on UHI distribution.Conclusions: The study clearly demonstrated that industrial regions and roads with large surfaces, somehow bare lands even with spare bushes or grassy lands and more significantly the slope urban land parts within special aspects are the main contributors of UHSs and UHI developments in the city even w.r.t. long term data. Thus those contributors affect the city pre-natural climate conditions negatively and then let UHSs to appear and UHIs to develop at and around where these urban land cover structures are located or seen in the city. Those city parts are the most risky zones that city authorities take serious actions for caring their city chronical climate (thermal) conditions and to focus on for returning these zones back to their pre-natural climate environmental conditions. There are also some nature based solutions that are given and suggested in the conclusion section of the paper for compensation of the effects caused by those contributors in the city.

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On the influence of density and morphology on the Urban Heat Island intensity

Cited by 183 publications

References 66 publications

Impact of COVID-19-Related Traffic Slowdown on Urban Heat Characteristics

Impact of COVID-19-Related Traffic Slowdown on Urban Heat Characteristics

Regulating urban densification: what factors should be used?

SSD Analyze for the Assessment of Long Term Thermal Effect of Urbanization on the Izmir City’s Local Climate Change

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On the influence of density and morphology on the Urban Heat Island intensity

Cited by 183 publications

References 66 publications

Impact of COVID-19-Related Traffic Slowdown on Urban Heat Characteristics

Impact of COVID-19-Related Traffic Slowdown on Urban Heat Characteristics

Regulating urban densification: what factors should be used?

SSD&nbsp;Analyze for the Assessment of Long Term Thermal Effect of Urbanization on the Izmir City’s Local Climate Change

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SSD Analyze for the Assessment of Long Term Thermal Effect of Urbanization on the Izmir City’s Local Climate Change