Urban Heat Island and Its Interaction with Heatwaves: A Review of Studies on Mesoscale

Jing Kong, Yongling Zhao, Jan Carmeliet and Chengwang Lei
Additional contact information
Jing Kong: Center for Wind, Waves and Water, School of Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia
Yongling Zhao: Chair of Building Physics, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
Jan Carmeliet: Chair of Building Physics, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zürich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland
Chengwang Lei: Center for Wind, Waves and Water, School of Civil Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney 2006, Australia

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 19, 1-26

Abstract: With rapid urbanization, population growth and anthropogenic activities, an increasing number of major cities across the globe are facing severe urban heat islands (UHI). UHI can cause complex impacts on the urban environment and human health, and it may bring more severe effects under heatwave (HW) conditions. In this paper, a holistic review is conducted to articulate the findings of the synergies between UHI and HW and corresponding mitigation measures proposed by the research community. It is worth pointing out that most studies show that urban areas are more vulnerable than rural areas during HWs, but the opposite is also observed in some studies. Changes in urban energy budget and major drivers are discussed and compared to explain such discrepancies. Recent studies also indicate that increasing albedo, vegetation fraction and irrigation can lower the urban temperature during HWs. Research gaps in this topic necessitate more studies concerning vulnerable cities in developing countries. Moreover, multidisciplinary studies considering factors such as UHI, HW, human comfort, pollution dispersion and the efficacy of mitigation measures should be conducted to provide more accurate and explicit guidance to urban planners and policymakers.

Keywords: urban heat island (UHI); heatwave (HW); urban heat island intensity (UHII); surface energy balance model; mitigation measures (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10923/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/19/10923/ (text/html)

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:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:19:p:10923-:d:647971

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().