The Impact of Greenspace on Thermal Comfort in a Residential Quarter of Beijing, China

Zhifeng Wu, Fanhua Kong, Yening Wang, Ranhao Sun and Liding Chen
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Zhifeng Wu: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Fanhua Kong: International Institute for Earth System Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
Yening Wang: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Ranhao Sun: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China
Liding Chen: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China

IJERPH, 2016, vol. 13, issue 12, 1-16

Abstract: With the process of urbanization, a large number of residential quarters, which is the main dwelling form in the urban area of Beijing, have been developed in last three decades to accommodate the rising population. In the context of intensification of urban heat island (UHI), the potential degradation of the thermal environment of residential quarters can give rise to a variety of problems affecting inhabitants’ health. This paper reports the results of a numerical study of the thermal conditions of a residential quarter on a typical summertime day under four greening modification scenarios, characterized by different leaf area density (LAD) profiles. The modelling results demonstrated that vegetation could evidently reduce near-surface air temperature, with the combination of grass and mature trees achieving as much as 1.5 °C of air temperature decrease compared with the non-green scenario. Vegetation can also lead to smaller air temperature fluctuations, which contribute to a more stable microclimate. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was then calculated to represent the variation of thermal environment of the study area. While grass is helpful in improving outdoor thermal comfort, trees are more effective in reducing the duration and expansion of suffering from severe heat stress. The results of this study showed that proper maintenance of vegetation, especially trees, is significant to improving the outdoor thermal environment in the summer season. In consideration of the deficiency of the current code in the management of greenspace in residential areas, we hope the results reported here will help promote the improvement of the code and related regulations for greenspace management.

Keywords: urban heat island; residential quarter; LAD; cooling effects of vegetation; thermal stress; ENVI-met; UTCI (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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