Urban greenspaces promote warmer soil surface temperatures in a snow-covered city

Thompson, Kimberly L.; Pauli, Jonathan N.; Erker, Tedward; Kucharik, Christopher J.; Schatz, Jason; Townsend, Philip A.; Zuckerberg, Benjamin

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104537

Cited by 6 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…The areas where the road green space is located show a relatively lower PET value than the surrounding environment. Based on the analysis of the average PETs of the street canyon areas in the six models, we did not find warming effects of the green space in winter as pointed out by some researchers [94][95][96]. Although street trees can decrease winter thermal comfort by blocking sunlight and transpiration [57,58], their effect on blocking the wind should not be neglected.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

A Simulation Study of the Impact of Urban Street Greening on the Thermal Comfort in Street Canyons on Hot and Cold Days

Liu,

Zheng,

Yang

2023

Forests

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The urban heat island effect has become a widely concerning issue worldwide. Many researchers have made great efforts to improve the summer thermal comfort of urban street canyons by optimizing street greening. Relatively less research has focused on how to improve the thermal comfort of street canyons by optimizing street greening during cold days. Many researchers have proposed strategies to improve the summer thermal comfort of street canyons using road greening. This may have a significant negative impact on the winter thermal comfort of street canyons due to the lack of consideration of the impact on hot and cold days simultaneously, especially when the road green space is mainly composed of evergreen tree species. We aimed to explore the impacts of urban street greening on thermal comfort on hot and cold days at the same time. We used Zhutang West Road in Changsha, China, as an example and built six different models to explore the impacts of the street vegetation types, number of street trees, tree heights, crown widths, and Leaf Area Index on the thermal comfort of the street canyon. In addition, we also considered the impact of different building features and wind directions on the thermal comfort of the street canyon. We employed ENVI-met (version 5.5.1) to simulate different urban street greening models. The results show that the model with a high tree canopy density, tall trees, large and dense crowns, and sufficient building shade has good thermal comfort on hot days (the average physiological equivalent temperature (PET) is 31.1 °C for the study period) and bad thermal comfort on cold days (the PET is 13.3 °C) when it is compared with the other models (the average PETs are 36.2 °C, 31.5 °C, 41.5 °C, 36.2 °C, and 35.5 °C, respectively, on hot days and for other models). In addition, the model with a very large number of short hedges has a positive impact on thermal comfort during hot days (the PET is 31.1 °C). The PET value of another comparable model which does not have hedges is 31.5 °C. Even if the model with a small building area has good ventilation, the small building shade area in the model has a more obvious impact and the model has relatively good thermal comfort during cold days (the PET is 14.2 °C) when it is compared to models with bigger building areas (the PET is 13.9 °C). In summer, when the wind is parallel to the direction of the street canyon, the wind speed in the street canyon is high and the model has relatively good thermal comfort (the PET is 35.5 °C) compared with another model which has different wind direction and lower wind speed at the street canyon (the PET is 36.2 °C). In winter, when the wind is perpendicular to the direction of the street canyon, buildings and trees have a strong windproof effect and this is beneficial to the improvement of thermal comfort (the PET is 15.3 °C for this model and 13.9 °C for another comparable model). This research lays a solid foundation and encourages people to think about the impact of building and tree composition and configuration on the thermal comfort of street canyons during hot and cold days simultaneously.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

A Simulation Study of the Impact of Urban Street Greening on the Thermal Comfort in Street Canyons on Hot and Cold Days

Liu,

Zheng,

Yang

2023

Forests

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“…Ziter et al found that vegetation cover can lower average temperatures by more than 1.5 • C within a radius of 60 to 90 m [32]. Some studies have confirmed that in winter, urban vegetation has a heating effect of up to 4 • C at extremely low temperatures (~−30 • C) [33]. At the same time, by regulating air temperature and humidity, vegetation helps improve thermal comfort for the human body [34,35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of the Bamboo Communities on Microclimate and Thermal Comfort in Subtropical Climates

Wu¹,

Wu²,

Nan³

et al. 2023

Forests

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Urban greening is the most effective way to regulate the microclimate environment and thermal discomfort. However, despite being an important type of vegetation, relatively few studies have investigated the effect of bamboo on microclimate characteristics and thermal comfort. In this study, the microclimate characteristics and the differences in the thermal comfort provided by common bamboo communities in East China were investigated in summer and winter, and the effects of canopy structure characteristics on microclimate and thermal comfort were analyzed. The results showed that there were significant differences in microclimate between bamboo communities and the control check in summer, but the differences in air temperature in winter were not obvious. In the daytime during summer, the maximum daily average temperature of the bamboo community decreased by 2.6 °C, and the maximum temperature–humidity index (THI) decreased by 1.1 °C. In the daytime during winter, the maximum daily average temperature increased by 0.5 °C and the maximum THI increased by 0.8 °C. Among the different bamboo communities, Sinobambusa tootsik var. laeta and Pseudosasa amabilis had better effects on improving microclimate and thermal comfort, while the effects of Phyllostachys nigra and Phyllostachys heterocycla ‘Pubescens’ were relatively small. Aspects of canopy structure, especially leaf area index and canopy coverage, had the greatest influence on the microclimate environment, while air temperature made the greatest contribution to thermal comfort. The goal of our study is to quantify the data to confirm the role of bamboo in improving urban climate problems and human comfort and to further select the appropriate bamboo species for urban green spaces and to utilize the ecological benefits of bamboo to optimize the human living environment.

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Quantifying the effects of 2D/3D urban landscape patterns on land surface temperature: A perspective from cities of different sizes

et al. 2023

Building and Environment

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Urban greenspaces promote warmer soil surface temperatures in a snow-covered city

Cited by 6 publications

References 97 publications

A Simulation Study of the Impact of Urban Street Greening on the Thermal Comfort in Street Canyons on Hot and Cold Days

A Simulation Study of the Impact of Urban Street Greening on the Thermal Comfort in Street Canyons on Hot and Cold Days

Effects of the Bamboo Communities on Microclimate and Thermal Comfort in Subtropical Climates

Quantifying the effects of 2D/3D urban landscape patterns on land surface temperature: A perspective from cities of different sizes

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