Analysis of Thermal Environment over a Small-Scale Landscape in a Densely Built-Up Asian Megacity

Younha Kim, Seung Man An, Jeong-Hee Eum and Jung-Hun Woo
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Younha Kim: Department of Advanced Technology Fusion (DATF), Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05029, Korea
Seung Man An: Housing & Land Research Division, Korea Research Institute for Human Settlements, 254 Simin-daero, Dongan-gu, Anyang-si, Gyeonggi-do 14067, Korea
Jeong-Hee Eum: Department of Landscape Architecture, Keimyung University, 1095 Dalgubeol-daero, Daegu 42601, Korea
Jung-Hun Woo: Division of Interdisciplinary Studies/DATF, Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05029, Korea

Sustainability, 2016, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-17

Abstract: Many studies have found that larger parks might be needed to counteract the Urban Heat Island effects typical in densely populated Asian megacities. However, it is not easy to establish large parks to serve as urban cool islands in Asian megacities, where little space exists for large urban neighborhood parks. Officials in these cities would rather use small areas by replacing heat-absorbing artificial land cover with natural cover. The main objective of this study was to understand the cooling effect of changes in land cover on surface and air temperatures in urban micro-scale environments for supporting sustainable green-space planning and policy in densely built-up areas. This was achieved using measurements at different heights (ground surface, 0.1 m, and 1.5 m) for five land cover types (LCTs) and modeling with the micro-scale climate model ENVI-met. At all vertical measuring points, the average temperature over the entire measurement period had the same hot-to-cold order: asphalt > soil > grass > water > forest. However, the value dramatically decreased as the measuring points became higher. The intensity of hot and cool spots showed the highest value at surface by 18.2 °C, and declined with the height, showing 4.1 °C at 0.1 m and 3.1 °C at 1.5 m. The modeling results indicated that the well-known diurnal variation in surface insolation also occurred in our small domain, among the various LCTs. Based on these findings, providing small-scale green infrastructure in densely built-up areas could be an effective way to improve urban micro-scale thermal conditions.

Keywords: micro-scale thermal environment; cool spot; ENVI-met; green-space planning; climate change (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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