How urban form influence urban heat island : perspectives and strategies from different scales and disciplines

Wei, Xaio and Wang, Xiaojun; (2022) How urban form influence urban heat island : perspectives and strategies from different scales and disciplines. In: Annual Conference Proceedings of the XXVIII International Seminar on Urban Form. University of Strathclyde Publishing, Glasgow, pp. 568-575. ISBN 9781914241161

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Abstract

Urban heat island (UHI) has been a widespread problem attracting particular attentions for years, and recent studies have shown that urban form is crucial to the formation of UHI at all scales. The relationship between urban form and UHI from the perspective of different scales and disciplines has been investigated with a systematic review. Firstly, we discuss the influence of urban form on UHI at three kinds of scales. 1) at regional scale, the UHI effect of specific urban agglomeration is studied. It’s indicated that UHI is more likely to be affected by the urban geometric characteristics and the level of urban development and construction at this scale. 2) at urban scale, natural surface like greenspace and water body could significantly alleviate UHI effect, while building density and population density show the opposite impact. Sky view factor has complex mechanism on influencing the UHI that may lead to the contradictory results. 3) at block scale, urban form is referred to the layout and structure of buildings, streets and open spaces. The key issue of UHI mitigation in this scale is to promote air circulation and heat dissipation. Secondly, we analyse the academic background of scholars. scholars from geography discipline focus on the external factors that lead to the formation of UHI like urbanization. Researchers from urban environment pay more attention to the urban ecosystem and the way to alleviate the UHI effect. Scholars from planning and design discipline focus more on studying the impact of streets and buildings on the UHI effect from the perspective of practical construction. Finally, we point out the existing problems of the research and put forward improving strategies for the future study, which is the interaction effect between the element of urban form should be more explored and the importance of urban green space need to be highlighted.

Persistent Identifier

https://doi.org/10.17868/strath.00080419
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