Urban Climate最新文献

{"title":"Urban comfort dynamics in major megacities in the Middle East: A spatiotemporal assessment and linkage to weather types","authors":"Ahmed M. El Kenawy ,&nbsp;Mohamed M. Abdelaal ,&nbsp;Hassan Aboelkhair ,&nbsp;Emad K. Mohamed","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102309","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102309","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study provides the first comprehensive assessment of the dynamics of urban comfort in the five largest megacities in the Middle East. The region's sparse and uneven meteorological station network has created a critical gap in urban climate research that addresses local urban spatial variability. Based on remote sensing data, we assessed changes in urban comfort for Cairo, Istanbul, Riyadh, Tehran, and Baghdad during the warm season (March–August) from 2003 to 2021. We employed NASA's Aqua satellite data to obtain high-resolution (1-km) Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Moisture Index (NDMI) as proxies for air temperature and relative humidity, respectively. Results demonstrate that there has been a noticeable decline in areas with comfortable conditions and an increase in areas categorized as uncomfortable, particularly during nighttime and peak summer months (June–August). This rise in urban discomfort was more pronounced in extratropical cities such as Baghdad, Cairo, and Riyadh. LST warming during the warm season, especially at night, was the primary driver of urban discomfort, with humidity having a more limited impact. The results reveal a strong spatial alignment between the LST trends and the modified temperature-humidity index (MTHI), particularly at night. Results demonstrate that the impact of temperature and humidity on urban discomfort varies among cities. While the influence of humidity on urban discomfort was particularly significant in Baghdad, the effect of increasing temperatures was more evident in Istanbul and Tehran. These differences highlight the need for tailored and city-specific approaches to address the challenges posed by urban discomfort conditions. Also, we classified weather types corresponding to the intensified urban discomfort conditions using the Jenkinson and Collison method, employing sea level and 500 hPa pressure data from the ERA5 dataset. Results reveal that zonal and primarily western advections significantly contribute to urban discomfort in most cities, while anticyclonic conditions have a minimum effect. Overall, this study offers valuable insights into urban comfort levels in the Middle East, aiding urban climate adaptation and planning strategies in the region. Our method provides an innovative solution to assess urban comfort dynamics in data-scarce regions, including the Middle East and beyond.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102309"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143027304","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Impacts of future urbanization scenarios on precipitation patterns over the metropolitan area of São Paulo (MASP): Insights from numerical simulation","authors":"Mariana Fadigatti Picolo,&nbsp;Edmilson Dias de Freitas,&nbsp;Carolyne Bueno Machado","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102288","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102288","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Several studies have shown that the urbanization process has an impact on precipitation pattern, especially leading to an enhancement. Urban centers are expected to expand following the prospects of urban population increase. Understanding the possible impacts of future urbanization on precipitation becomes essential to aid in the development of mitigation plans and to reduce population vulnerability. The Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP) is, mainly during summer, affected by heavy rain episodes with serious economic and social impacts. Here, the effects of three future scenarios on a storm event over the MASP are analyzed using numerical simulation. The scenarios are: LULC change, anthropogenic heat increase and a combination of both for 2050. Our results showed that rainfall rate is more intense in all future scenarios resulting in an increase on total precipitation. Still, urban expansion increased precipitation coverage area, while the increase in anthropogenic heat fluxes had a higher contribution on the intensity of precipitation. Low-level convergence and consequent upward motion were enhanced on future scenarios intensifying convection and consequent precipitation. Increasing anthropogenic heat flux also led to an increase in instability further contributing to convective enhancement. According to our conclusions, the scenario with both LULC change and anthropogenic heat increase is the most problematic one for the MASP with the most intense rainfall rates and an increase in 16 % in the area affected by precipitation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102288"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143027323","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Cooling effects and energy-saving potential of urban vegetation in cold-climate cities: A comparative study using regression and coupled simulation models","authors":"Dongliang Han ,&nbsp;Mingqi Wang ,&nbsp;Jiayi Li ,&nbsp;Tiantian Zhang ,&nbsp;Xuedan Zhang ,&nbsp;Jing Liu ,&nbsp;Yufei Tan","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102268","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102268","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Urban greening plays a crucial role in mitigating urban heat islands (UHIs) and improving building energy efficiency. However, the effects of urban vegetation on microclimate regulation and building energy consumption (BEC) in cold-climate regions remain underexplored. This study aims to evaluate the cooling impacts of urban greening and its influence on BEC in Harbin, a representative severe cold-climate city, by using a coupled simulation approach. The methodology integrates the ENVI-met microclimate model and EnergyPlus building energy simulation, incorporating real-world parameters such as urban morphology, vegetation characteristics, and meteorological data. The results demonstrate that urban vegetation significantly reduces surface and air temperatures during summer, with cooling effects reaching up to 1.27 °C. The incorporation of greening also reduces building cooling loads by 14.56 %, highlighting its potential for energy savings. Furthermore, the findings reveal spatial heterogeneity in the cooling effects, with tree-dominated areas outperforming grass-covered spaces. This study fills a gap in previous research, which often neglects the unique climatic and morphological conditions of cold regions, by providing a comprehensive evaluation framework for urban greening strategies. These results offer practical insights for urban planners and policymakers to optimize greening strategies in cold-climate cities, aiming to enhance thermal comfort and achieve sustainable energy use. This work emphasizes the need for region-specific studies and integrated approaches to address the dual challenges of urban climate adaptation and energy efficiency.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102268"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142988098","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Time series trend detection and forecasting of SUHI in Tabriz, Iran","authors":"Mohammad Ali Koushesh Vatan ,&nbsp;Mohammad Nemati ,&nbsp;Aliihsan Sekertekin ,&nbsp;Mobin Zehtabi Aslkhiabani","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102321","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102321","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study aims to evaluate the seasonal daytime and nighttime SUHI trend of Tabriz, using the non-parametric Mann-Kendall, Innovative Trend Analysis, and MODIS data, and to forecast the SUHI trend by 2030 using SARIMA and NNAR. Considering the SUHI analysis, daily MODIS images were processed in the Google earth engine platform. Based on mean SUHI values, the analysis showed that Tabriz has insignificant daytime SUHI, and the mean Summer SUHI is negative (−3.9 °C). Conversely, mean nighttime SUHI is positive for all seasons. Furthermore, the annual mean of SUHI is negative in the daytime, while positive in the nighttime. Also, Tabriz has daytime cool islands and intense nighttime heat islands. Considering the MK analysis, the negative monotonic trend is captured for all the seasons except Winter during daytime. On the other hand, ITA analysis revealed that the mean SUHI trend in winter and autumn was trend-free, whereas a decreasing trend was observed for Spring and Summer. Based on the forecasting SUHI for 2030, the NNAR outperformed the SARIMA by presenting lower RMSE. Overall, this study presented seasonal and annual daytime and nighttime SUHI analyses of Tabriz, and showed that the MODIS data enables effective long-term SUHI evaluations at regional scales.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102321"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143072655","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing urban surface thermal environment and heat health risk in Chinese cities: A twenty-year study","authors":"Chunxiao Zhang ,&nbsp;Yang Yang ,&nbsp;Le Yu","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102304","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102304","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>With global warming and rapid urbanization, urban surface temperatures have risen significantly, challenging residents' health and urban sustainability. Prolonged or frequent high temperature exposure can cause various health issues, making the study of heat-related risks crucial. However, data accessibility issues and other factors limit the temporal and spatial scales of studies. This insufficiently considers intra-urban spatial heterogeneity, hindering detailed exploration of urbanization's impacts on heat risk. Therefore, this paper evaluates the surface thermal environment and heat health risks in Chinese urban areas from 2000 to 2020 using the IPCC's “hazard-vulnerability-exposure” framework. It proposes a method to analyze these patterns at a 100-m resolution among different LCZ types. Results show that heat risks have increased over the past 20 years, with higher risks in the northwest, southeast, and central regions. Built-type LCZs, especially those with high building density and height, have significantly higher heat risks than natural-type LCZs. LCZ 8 and LCZ 10 exhibit relatively high heat risk levels, though lower than dense building zones. In contrast, areas with vegetation (LCZ A-D) and water bodies (LCZ G) show significantly lower heat risks compared to other LCZ types. The paper proposes targeted heat adaptation strategies and planning recommendations based on these findings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102304"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143072664","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Influence of historical city walls on the water cooling effects in summer","authors":"Dan Song ,&nbsp;Shengnan Niu ,&nbsp;Lufang Chen ,&nbsp;Annan Wang ,&nbsp;Xing Shi ,&nbsp;Xin Zhou ,&nbsp;Liu Yang ,&nbsp;Xing Jin","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102310","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102310","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Historical city walls, as symbols of historical and cultural heritage, have been extensively studied. While many city walls have survived modern urban development, their potential adverse effects on the surrounding microclimate remain underexplored. This study addressed this gap by examining the influence of historical city walls on the cooling effect of nearby water bodies (WCE), offering new insights into their environmental interactions. The findings indicated that while the city wall exerted minimal influence on the WCE in water-adjacent areas, its impact was more pronounced in building-adjacent areas, where the cooling effect decreased by up to 0.89 °C. The influence of the city wall diminished as its height decreased. The thermal impact was most significant when winds blow from the water side, with stronger winds further amplifying this effect. Additionally, the integration of design features such as entrances and vegetation can help mitigate the city wall's thermal impact. This paper identified the mechanism and degree of influence of the city wall on the WCE, which not only deepened the understanding of the environmental impact of the historical city wall, but also provided scientific guidance for urban planners to balance cultural preservation and environmental sustainability when renovating and managing similar historic buildings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102310"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143072866","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A systematic review of justice integration to climate resilience: Current trends and future directions","authors":"Virginia Pellerey,&nbsp;Sara Torabi Moghadam,&nbsp;Patrizia Lombardi","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102250","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102250","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate resilience has been adopted as a systematic approach for facing climate change. Although the concept of resilience received criticism for failing to address the issues of power imbalance and conservatism, recent approaches include diverse justice perspectives as pathways to address these concerns. However, the lack of clarity regarding the diverse definitions of justice and their relationship to climate resilience hinders our understanding of how to effectively integrate urban climate resilience and justice. This study offers a systematic review of literature on justice and climate resilience in the urban context with the intent of (i) identifying articles addressing justice and climate resilience and classifying them according to the form of justice and resilience framing, (ii) studying trends in the current literature, (iii) identifying research gaps, and (iv) reflecting on the possibility for integration between justice and resilience in different phases of the resilience-building process and proposing future insights. In particular, the results emphasize the importance of (1) enhancing system thinking using people-centered approaches, (2) focusing on the social implications of climate actions, and (3) evaluating different timeframes. The study concludes by suggesting policymaking and research strategies for facilitating the transition toward just and climate-resilient cities.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102250"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142867484","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evidence on local climate policies achieving emission reduction targets by 2030","authors":"Camilo Franco,&nbsp;Giulia Melica,&nbsp;Valentina Palermo,&nbsp;Paolo Bertoldi","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102242","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2024.102242","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Local governments play a crucial role in combating climate change. They directly engage with citizens, impact their daily lives, and implement local policies to meet mitigation goals. This paper focuses on identifying specific policy themes that significantly contribute to achieving 2030 mitigation targets, thereby supporting local governments in developing effective climate action plans. We developed an innovative machine learning methodology to extract policy topics and evaluate their impact on meeting committed mitigation targets. This approach includes a new stopping criterion for Structural Topic Modeling. We applied this methodology to a sample of 744 Global Covenant of Mayors signatories, each committed to reducing a percentage of their baseline emissions by 2030. Our findings reveal that policies addressing building integration and transport modal shift, among others, show a strong positive correlation with the likelihood of meeting emissions reduction targets. By leveraging machine learning techniques, our methodology effectively categorizes diverse individual policies into more cohesive topics, facilitating knowledge sharing among committed cities and enhancing the overall effectiveness of climate action strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102242"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142867485","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"\"It is getting too hot lately\": Urban households' knowledge, experiences and governance of extreme heat events in Accra, Ghana","authors":"Yaw Agyeman Boafo ,&nbsp;Ebenezer Forkuo Amankwaa ,&nbsp;Catalina Spataru ,&nbsp;Priscila Carvalho","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102287","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102287","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>As climate change accelerates, extreme heat events have become one of the most pervasive and dangerous threats to urban populations worldwide, disproportionately affecting vulnerable communities. This study investigates household awareness, experiences, and governance responses to extreme heat in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area, Ghana. A mixed-methods approach, involving household surveys (<em>n</em> = 413) and focus group discussions (<em>n</em> = 3), was used to assess three neighbourhoods: Dansoman, Osu, and Ashaley Botwe. The findings show high levels of awareness of extreme heat across all neighbourhoods, but Ashaley Botwe reported the greatest disruption to daily life, driven by rapid urbanisation and economic vulnerability. Health concerns, discomfort, and sleep disruptions emerged as the most common impacts. Further analyses revealed that age, generation group, and income significantly influenced household awareness and adaptive responses to extreme heat. Older residents and higher-income households were more likely to invest in cooling systems, while education positively correlated with increased awareness of extreme heat risks. Despite the clear recognition of extreme heat as a major issue, government-led strategies and local engagement in heat governance were found to be largely absent, highlighting a governance gap. This study highlights the necessity for targeted, community-specific climate resilience strategies that consider demographic and socio-economic vulnerabilities. The findings advocate for the integration of localized climate adaptation measures into urban planning frameworks to mitigate the adverse effects of extreme heat in fast-growing cities like Accra.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102287"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142988428","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The interactions of carbon emission driving forces: Analysis based on interpretable machine learning","authors":"Zhaoyingzi Dong ,&nbsp;Jiayan Shi ,&nbsp;Sheng Pan","doi":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102323","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102323","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Climate change caused by carbon emissions is a major threat to humanity. Understanding the drivers of carbon emissions has drawn much attention, but many studies overlook how these drivers interact. This study uses interpretable machine learning to explore the complex relationships between carbon emission intensity and its factors based on city-level data from China between 2002 and 2017. The findings show that as GDP per capita, population, population density, and knowledge complexity increase, their negative effects on carbon emission intensity weaken. In contrast, the positive effects of the secondary industry ratio and industrial land use grow stronger. FDI and innovation quantity show an inverted U-shaped relationship with carbon emission intensity. The study also finds significant interactions among these factors, such as between industrial land and population density, industrial structure and innovation, and economic development and population. SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) identify economic development as the most important influencing factor, followed by population and industrial structure. These results provide valuable insights into controlling carbon emissions at different stages of urban growth and leveraging interactions among key drivers.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48626,"journal":{"name":"Urban Climate","volume":"59 ","pages":"Article 102323"},"PeriodicalIF":6.0,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143172059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"工程技术","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}