In order to explore the actual impact of urban spatial morphology on real near-surface wind speed on the urban scale, taking Beijing, China as an example，this study adopted an urban-rural ratio method to construct a WsR (wind speed ratio) to quantify the impact of urbanization on the near-surface wind speed. The spatial morphological parameters such as building height, building density (BD), building

This article proposes a QGIS plug-in called TempMap, to obtain near surface air temperature maps from an urban meteorological network, the topography description and three parameters describing the urbanized surface fraction. The objective being to facilitate the communication and consideration of local climate in French urban planning practices, some methodological choices were done related to the

The article defines the retention potential of a housing development based on the example of two estates located in Cracow. Runoff from the urban area was calculated using the maximum intensity method (MIM). Highly effective rainfall retention based on green infrastructure has been proposed. It has been shown that by using extensive green roofs and permeable surfaces, it is possible to considerably

Several European urban areas are characterised by low air quality due to high local emission per unit surface. A further key feature can be related to the pollutant load due to adverse local meteo-climatic conditions. This study aims to compare the two urban agglomerations of Torino and Lyon – located on opposite sides of the Alps and characterised by similar size and population – to enlighten the

Globally, there are strategies to solve sustainability and health problems, but we continue to experience an increase in disease burden and environmental problems. This study applied a cross-sectional design to examine the perceived awareness on the environmental hazard-health nexus and the key factors that drive individuals WTP in environmental policy design in Accra, Ghana. Significant number of

Of all-natural disasters, extreme high temperatures events are the main cause of weather-related mortality. The compact urban settings of cities, the dependency on infrastructural systems as well as the larger concentration of people and economic activities make urban areas particularly vulnerable to health risks due to heat. To investigate vulnerabilities to heat, the study illustrates how vulnerability

Most state-of-the-art climate simulation ensembles misrepresent the effects of urbanization on local climate due to computational restrictions, posing a major limitation for urban climate projections. We circumvent this shortcoming by employing the SURFEX land-surface model coupled to TEB (Town Energy Balance) urban canopy model, forced by EURO-CORDEX regional climate simulations. We demonstrate the

A remarkable phenomenon in urban climate is the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Based on satellite imagery and geographical and climatological data, this study analyzes the patterns of land surface temperature (LST) and land use/land cover (LULC) in Hong Kong and the seasonal variations of the relationships between them. Remote sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS) and statistical methods

City-scale climate information is needed to inform policy, decision-making and climate action in the context of development agendas like Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Sendai Framework of Disaster Risk Reduction, New Urban Agenda and the Paris Agreement. Traditional approaches in climate services are often top-down and inadequate in meeting the needs of stakeholders in urban areas like African

The frequent diesel oil price adjustments and the cost of freight are among the main reasons for Brazilian truckers' strike that occurred in 2018. This event showed the strong influence of the road transport sector in the economy and air quality on different urban centers of Sao Paulo. Air pollutants concentrations were compared during the strike days and control days, considering equivalent meteorological

Tehran, the capital of Iran, is one of the most polluted cities in the Middle East. However, there is no clear evidence of the effects of Tehran green spaces on reducing air pollution because there are still challenges to application of vegetation for improving air quality. The current study investigates the effects of a large volume of green space with 275 ha area in the vicinity of major highways

In the last two decades, mixed-use has taken center stage in urban planning development in the United States. This study examined the relationship between mixed-use development and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the zip code level in the U.S. This research uses different implementation methods of a mixed-use development with different cultural and historical backgrounds to examine the data. The

In the present work the mesoscale meteorological model Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF), coupled with a multilayer urban canopy parameterization and a building energy model (BEP + BEM), is used to analyze the sensitivity of both urban climatic conditions and building energy consumption on parameters characterizing urban materials and the building environment. In particular, simulations in an

The urban climate has been disrupted with increasing urbanisation and consumption concepts, revealing climatic properties that affect human comfort conditions as a result of climate change. Decreasing vegetation and evaporative surfaces in cities, and increasing structural surfaces, such as concrete and asphalt, alter the topography, ecological structure, and atmospheric characteristics of nature,

This study has analysed the development of the urban heat island (UHI) under various synoptic scale atmospheric circulation for two large cities – Prague in central Europe and Bucharest in south-eastern Europe, including seasonal differences and long-term changes. At the best of our knowledge, it is the first comparison between two European cities from this perspective. Analysis was conducted on the

In times of climate change a strong effort should be made to enhance thermal conditions within cities to create livable environments. Shading in urban open spaces has been recognized as an important parameter in modifying microclimatic conditions and enhancing thermal comfort particularly in hot regions. When designed appropriately, shading can mitigate the Urban Heat Island (UHI), enhance pedestrian

In recent years, the representation of climate information in a way to support decision making has been gaining momentum. Worldwide, these so-called climate services are emerging as an essential tool to connect the advances in climate science with the domains of climate change adaptation. The methodology developed within the CLARITY project (funded through European Union funding program Horizon 2020)

Since the estimation of anthropogenic heating is always problematic in medium-sized cities because of data lacking, we intended to test how much the omission of such data influences the physical consistency in a numerical model (Weather Research and Forecasting – WRF). It was hypothesized that anthropogenic heating is an important input for the model, even in a relatively small urban area, therefore

This study aims to examine the associations between land surface temperature (LST) and annual household energy expenditure (HEE) in urbanized zones of the Netherlands. To do so, satellite images of 96 days at four different overpassing local times (10:30 a.m., 1:30 p.m., 10:30 p.m., 1:30 a.m.) are retrieved, and annual average maximum (LST-Max) and average minimum (LST-Min) LST at each zone are calculated

COVID-19 pandemic is the global health crisis of our time. A recent study has found that the virus can remain viable in air for multiple hours, thus the spread of virus can be affected by wind conditions such as wind speed and direction. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the impact of wind conditions on COVID-19 pandemic in Jakarta, Indonesia. The wind parameters were evaluated using wind roses

Accelerating Greenland and Antarctic Ice Sheet ice mass losses and potential West Antarctic Ice Sheet instability may lead to higher than previously anticipated future sea levels. The New York City Panel on Climate Change Antarctic Rapid Ice Melt (ARIM) upper-end, low probability sea level rise (SLR) scenario, which incorporates recent ice loss trends, improved ice sheet-ocean-atmosphere modeling,

Urban morphology has an important impact on the outdoor thermal environment; studying the temporal and spatial distribution characteristics of air temperature and its relationship with urban morphology is the prerequisite for improving the outdoor thermal environment in the urban sectors. In July 2016, the study selected five sectors (C1 is a commercial sector, I1 is an industry sector, and R1-R3 are

Carbonaceous components [organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), water soluble organic carbon (WSOC), primary organic carbon (POC), secondary organic carbon (SOC) and carbonaceous aerosols (CAs)] and major and trace elements (Na, Mg, Ca, Al, Fe, Ti, Cl, P, S, K, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Mo and B) of PM10 were studied over the eastern Himalayan high altitude station [Darjeeling: 27.01°N and 88.15°E, 2200 m

Urban climate manifests itself through thermal and wind environments specific to cities and can cause wind danger or overheating. Cities can benefit from preventing these effects through adaptation measures. However, before any action can be taken in improving these urban climate conditions, an awareness of the problems is needed. Numerous studies show that there is awareness of urban climate extremes

Urbanization modifies the hydrologic response of a catchment significantly. An understanding of historical patterns and changes in trends of hydrological variables in cities is important to design, maintain and operate the urban infrastructure. The historical trend analysis of various climate variables including temperature and precipitation, and the dependence of precipitation on temperature is presented

Climate emergency declarations are amongst the strongest statement from governments in the face of global warming. At least 1217 local governments have so far declared a climate emergency; however, on a national government level, only seven such declarations have been made, most of which were in 2019. The exponential rise of local governments declaring a climate emergency is significant, and developing

The concept of urban livability is defined as the quality of life and wellbeing of urban residents. That is the interpolation of people, environment and built environment. Among the components of natural environment, climate is playing the most important and significant role. Two types of data were measured for calculating the thermal comfort in the study area. Subjective and objective evaluations

World Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) Level 0 method announced a workflow of mapping Local Climate Zones (LCZs). However, the low accuracy of LCZ classifications in Level 0 especially for the built-up areas caused by recognition of classes and operator bias is becoming an obstacle for further study in WUDAPT Level 1 and 2. Since the landscape in Japan is complicated, the recognition of classes

Although air pollution is a global problem, the densely populated developing countries, for instance, India, face severe air pollution. Rapid economic growth and poorly regulated developmental activities have further deteriorated the air quality in this region. Hence, a comprehensive investigation is essential to address the problems of air pollution in this region. In this study, we investigated the

At the end of February 2020, Peru started the first cases of pneumonia associated with coronavirus (COVID-19), they were reported in Lima, Peru (Rodriguez-Morales et al., 2020). Therefore, the first week on March started with 72 infected people, the government published new law for a national crisis by COVID-19 pandemic (Vizcarra et al., 2020), with a quarantine in each city of Peru. Our analysis has

This study is the first, purely data-driven technique to assess the classical urban climatological problem of the relation between urban heat island (UHI) and urban rainfall modification. Urban areas affect regional climate. This knowledge is based on studies involving observations or process-scale models. These studies, while important for understanding the dynamic processes, come at a cost (time

Urban areas, home to over half of the world's population, are at the forefront of climate change impacts and adaptation issues. Planning sustainable cities for the future requires not only a clear understanding of how climate change will influence urban areas but also how urban areas influence the local climate. This paper validates the Surface Urban Energy and Water Balance Scheme (SUEWS) model at

Outdoor thermal comfort (OTC) has a significant effect on the health and well-being of urban dwellers. One of the key factors contributing to the tempo-spatial variation of thermal comfort in urban neighbourhoods is the geometrical characteristics. This paper develops a novel modelling framework to comprehensively evaluate the tempo-spatial thermal comfort performance of neighbourhoods on the basis

This study investigates the thermal behavior of local climate zones (LCZs) together with seasonal divergence. Firstly, LCZs were distinguished by combining satellite imagery and LiDAR data. Trees accounted for the highest proportion among the land cover type LCZs, whereas open mid-rise was the predominant zone in the built-up types. According to the comparison of mean LSTs, the results found that the

The ambient air quality is a well-known problem for big cities with dense population and high traffic volume. The traditional way for monitoring air quality is using stationary measurement stations. However, the main disadvantages are limited spatial resolution and restricted possibility of mapping spatial distributions of air pollutants. To provide high spatial and temporal resolution, mobile measurements

The Lowry approach (1977) sets the framework for evaluating the meteorological effects of the urban heat island (UHI), by describing it as the superposition of “background”, “local” and “urban” climates. In this paper, by adapting this framework to the study of UHI countermeasures, we propose a statistical method suited for assessing their effects in the field. The framework demonstrates that direct

Many cities are expected to face a strong increase in the frequency and intensity of heat-waves by the end of the 21st Century due to climate change. In Paris, the frequency of heat-waves could rise from an average of one day per year to 14–26 days per year, with temperatures reaching up to 50 °C. Since 2012, pavement-watering is viewed as a potential tool for emergency cooling by the city while scientific

The urban heat island (UHI) effect has been the subject of much research due to its adverse effects on health, energy, and the environment. The objective of this work is to investigate the key parameters contributing to the urban heat island effect in Beirut city and to improve the temperature forecast in the city by taking these parameters into account. This is accomplished by coupling the single

While climate change projections for the Mediterranean region indicate an increased exposure to heatwaves (HW), such prospects are particularly challenging in urban areas, where thermal stress can be exacerbated by the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. In that regard, understanding spatial patterns of thermal performance is of the utmost importance, in order to address corresponding adaptation measures

We measured evapotranspiration rate for tall trees, we developed a new weight scale able to measure the amount of evapotranspiration from a large, full-sized tree, and is using the large-sized scale to carry out long-term measurements comparing the evapotranspiration of individual trees and those located in forests. The amount of transpiration per unit leaf area of isolated and forest edge individuals

In 2014, the Singapore government announced plans to increase the adoption of solar power, including by integrating solar PV systems into the urban environment. Careful planning of a neighbourhood at early design stage, which determines the overall urban morphology, is important for effective deployment of solar panels in urban environment. This study performed parametric assessment to understand the

Strong, cold winds constitute a problem in southern Scandinavia with its open, flat terrain. In the city of Malmö in the south of Sweden there are several new ongoing and planned large development projects, many of which are being constructed in wind exposed areas. One of the planned areas is Nyhamnen, a former harbour area in the north of the city. This paper describes an analysis of a preliminary

Streets are the fundamental elements of urban form in terms of microclimate as well as place making in cities. Microclimate itself is influenced by climate critical parameters of the Local Climate Zone Classification (LCZ) system. Therefore, a key design question is the role, if any, of LCZ classification for climate guidelines at street scale. In this paper we explore the Intra LCZ zone temperature

The impact of urban changes from 1989 to 2015 on urban rainstorms is assessed for the rapidly expanding Indian city of Hyderabad. A typical event that occurred during 12–14 June 2015 is simulated, and the possible association between altered urban-sprawl and shifts in the rainfall timing and patterns are analyzed. The simulation results revealed that the consideration of urban footprint changes was

The Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) had a rapid demographic and urban growth during the second half of the twentieth century that led to development of an intense Urban Heat Island (UHI). In the urbanized zone, the mean maximum and minimum temperatures have had significant increases of the order of 3 and 4°C during the last one hundred years. Even more, the areas of larger mean annual temperature

Planning for sustainable cities generally focuses on compact, human-scale cities. The urban paradigms underlying each city produce morphologies which generate a distinctive local urban climate. In this paper, four sub-cities in Delhi NCR, India, are classified using local climate zone (LCZ), and then analysed for thermal performance and compactness. These sub-cities are broadly classified as a garden

This study analyzes spatio-temporal variability and erosion potential related to rainfall in the municipality of Rio de Janeiro (MRJ), considering the period of 1997 to 2016. The rainfall series of Alerta Rio system were used, which is composed of 33 rainfall stations. To establish the values of the erosivity index, a linear eq. (Y = a + bx) was used. Ordinary kriging and clustering techniques were

Up-to-date climate scenarios warn that the frequency and intensity of heat waves are likely to increase in Europe during the twenty first century. In these circumstances, urban climate is progressively taken into account in urban planning processes, for instance using terrain classifications. The developed methodology involves the Local Climate Zone scheme (LCZ), which has been applied to Nancy, France

Stockholm is expanding fast in response to increasing housing needs. This paper evaluates the consequences of land-use changes on summer temperatures. Urban development scenarios for 2030 and 2050 were developed together with the municipality. The spatial and temporal variations of the changes in the urban air temperature are simulated at 1 km grid resolution applying a dynamical downscaling technique

Road dust is one of the most informative indicators of the ecological state of urban environments, as vehicles have become the major source of pollution in many cities. Road dust consists of blown out soil particles, solid particles discharged from vehicles and abrasion of the road surface. Vehicle emissions contain many heavy metals and metalloids (HMMs) in environmentally hazardous concentrations

It is known that rapid expansion in urban area exerts prominent effects on surface or near-surface temperature and the urban heat island effect. However, whether and how urban land expansion influences atmospheric humidity, a key indicator closely relating to human comfort and urban environment, warrant further investigations. By taking Guangdong Province as an example, in this study we examined the

Cities and urban agglomerations are particularly vulnerable to the expected impacts caused by climate change. A building-resolving urban climate model as a tool for urban planning can contribute to prepare to these issues. However, currently available urban climate models do not correspond to the level of expertise of the various stakeholders in planning practice and their respective computing infrastructures

Extreme urban temperatures pose a significant threat to human health, and are expected to worsen in a warming climate. While many heat island studies use land surface temperature to estimate exposure, air temperatures are more relevant to human health and comfort. The Tech Climate Network (TCN) was established to monitor 37 sites across the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology and surrounding