Spatial relationship between land development pattern and intra-urban thermal variations in Taipei

TY - JOUR

T1 - Spatial relationship between land development pattern and intra-urban thermal variations in Taipei

AU - Shih, Wan Yu

AU - Ahmad, Sohail

AU - Chen, Yu Cheng

AU - Lin, Tzu Ping

AU - Mabon, Leslie

N1 - © 2020 The Authors Funding Information: This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust Seed Award in Humanities and Social Sciences [ 205764-Z-16-Z ]. The second author acknowledges funding received via UK Research and Innovation as part of the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund.

PY - 2020/11/1

Y1 - 2020/11/1

N2 - This paper assesses the influence of land development patterns on intra-urban thermal variation in a densely-developed subtropical city, considering joint effect from greenspace pattern and built-up geometry. Despite growing research on urban climates, research at a scale that can support urban planning with scientificallyinformed strategies is still not as well documented for warm climate cities as for temperate cities. In response, this paper uses land surface temperature and geoinformation to assess the subtropical city of Taipei, Taiwan. Results show cooler environments are not only associated with natural surfaces, but also their interrelation with different spatial arrangement of buildings. An open layout tends to have lower temperature at low- to mid-rise buildings, whereas a compact layout is the coolest form for high-rise buildings. Cooling benefit from open layouts is, however, related to an increase in greenery. Clustering distribution of greenspaces produces more notable cooling. Accordingly, this paper proposes four heat mitigation strategies for Taipei: 1) increasing the amount of water bodies and vegetation, with greater coverage and coherence; 2) taking building height and shadow into account during regeneration/development; 3) increasing spacing and greenery between low- to midrise buildings; and 4) avoiding construction of compact low-rise buildings with corrugated iron steel.

AB - This paper assesses the influence of land development patterns on intra-urban thermal variation in a densely-developed subtropical city, considering joint effect from greenspace pattern and built-up geometry. Despite growing research on urban climates, research at a scale that can support urban planning with scientificallyinformed strategies is still not as well documented for warm climate cities as for temperate cities. In response, this paper uses land surface temperature and geoinformation to assess the subtropical city of Taipei, Taiwan. Results show cooler environments are not only associated with natural surfaces, but also their interrelation with different spatial arrangement of buildings. An open layout tends to have lower temperature at low- to mid-rise buildings, whereas a compact layout is the coolest form for high-rise buildings. Cooling benefit from open layouts is, however, related to an increase in greenery. Clustering distribution of greenspaces produces more notable cooling. Accordingly, this paper proposes four heat mitigation strategies for Taipei: 1) increasing the amount of water bodies and vegetation, with greater coverage and coherence; 2) taking building height and shadow into account during regeneration/development; 3) increasing spacing and greenery between low- to midrise buildings; and 4) avoiding construction of compact low-rise buildings with corrugated iron steel.

KW - Climate change adaptation

KW - Land surface temperature

KW - Local climate zones

KW - Urban geometry

KW - Urban heat island effect

KW - Urban planning

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088646067&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.scs.2020.102415

DO - 10.1016/j.scs.2020.102415

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85088646067

SN - 2210-6707

VL - 62

JO - Sustainable Cities and Society

JF - Sustainable Cities and Society

M1 - 102415

ER -