Vulnerability Assessment of a Highly Populated Megacity to Ambient Thermal Stress

Aman Gupta, Bhaskar De, Anoop Kumar Shukla () and Gloria Pignatta ()
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Aman Gupta: Department of Architecture and Planning, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, Howrah 711103, West Bengal, India
Bhaskar De: Department of Architecture and Planning, Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, Howrah 711103, West Bengal, India
Anoop Kumar Shukla: Manipal School of Architecture and Planning, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal 576104, Karnataka, India
Gloria Pignatta: School of Built Environment, Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 8, 1-21

Abstract: The urban ambient environment is directly responsible for the health conditions of millions of people. Comfortable living space is a significant aspect that urban policymakers need to address for sustainable planning. There is still a notable lack of studies that link the spatial profile of urban climate with city-specific built-up settings while assessing the vulnerability of the city population. Geospatial approaches can be beneficial in evaluating patterns of thermal discomfort and strategizing its mitigation. This study attempts to provide a thorough remote sensing framework to analyze the summer magnitude of thermal discomfort for a city in a tropical hot and humid climate. Spatial profiles of dry bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature and relative humidity were prepared for this purpose. A simultaneous assessment of various discomfort indices indicated the presence of moderate to strong heat stress to a vast extent within the study area. The central business district (CBD) of the city indicated a ‘danger’ level of heat disorder for outdoor exposure cases. Nearly 0.69 million people were vulnerable to a moderate threat from humid heat stress, and around 0.21 million citizens faced strong heat stress. Combing city morphology in the study showed that mid-rise buildings had the maximum contribution in terms of thermal discomfort. City areas with built-up cover of more than 68%, along with building height between 5.8 m and 9.3 m, created the worst outdoor discomfort situations. Better land management prospects were also investigated through a multicriteria approach using morphological settlement zones, wind direction, pavement watering, building regulations and future landscaping plans. East–west-aligned road segments of a total 38.44 km length were delineated for water spray cooling and greener pavements. This study is likely to provide solutions for enhancing ambient urban health.

Keywords: heat index; thermal discomfort; urban morphology; land management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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