Urban heat island and fringe belt interaction: The role of the urban fringe in heat island mitigation

Gülnihal Kurt Kayalı, Büşra Gülbahar İşlek, Tuğba Akın, Tolga Ünlü and Tülin Selvi Ünlü

Journal of Design for Resilience in Architecture and Planning, 2025, vol. 6, issue 2, 336-356

Abstract: Fringe Belt (FB) areas are transition zones located between successive areas of urban development. They are typically characterized by open spaces, industrial and institutional areas, and low-density residential areas. An Urban Heat Island (UHI) is a microclimate phenomenon caused by urbanization, characterized by higher surface temperatures in city centers compared to the surrounding area. The primary factors exacerbating the UHI effect are dense development, reduced green spaces and the heat-retaining properties of surface materials. FB areas can mitigate the UHI effect by limiting heat accumulation due to their relatively natural and permeable surfaces. This study aims to analyze temporal changes in FB areas and evaluate their impact on the UHI effect. For this purpose, Landsat satellite images from 1985, 2000 and 2025 were processed using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform to obtain land surface temperature (LST) values and map UHI distribution alongside delineation of fringe-belt plots. The results indicate that the UHI effect is relatively low in areas where fringe belts are preserved or minimally developed. Additionally, it was observed that the UHI effect increases as these areas become more developed over time. The study reveals that fringe-belt areas can play an important role in reducing the UHI effect, suggesting that these areas should be integrated into urban planning as cooling buffers. The study emphasizes the necessity of climate-focused approaches in urban planning and suggests evaluating fringe belts as potential microclimatic mitigation areas.

Keywords: fringe belt; urban heat island; remote sensing; land surface temperature; google earth engine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://drarch.org/index.php/drarch/article/view/325 Abstract page (text/html)
https://drarch.org/index.php/drarch/article/download/325/184 Full text (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:etk:drarch:v:6:y:2025:i:2:id:325

DOI: 10.47818/DRArch.2025.v6i2171

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Design for Resilience in Architecture and Planning from Mehmet Topcu
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Dr. Havva Alkan Bala, Çukurova University Faculty of Architecture (Çukurova University Faculty of Communication 3rd floor) Saricam / Adana, Türkiye ().