Abstract
Green infrastructure (GI) has emerged as a feasible strategy for promoting adaptive capacities of cities to climate change by alleviating urban heat island (UHI) and thus heat stress for humans. However, GI can also intensify the winter cold stress. To understand the extent of UHI within a city as well as the link between outdoor thermal stress both diurnally and seasonally, we carried out an empirical study in Würzburg, Germany from 2018 to 2020. At sub-urban sites, relative humidity and wind speed (WS) was considerably higher and air temperature (AT) lower compared to the inner city sites. Mean AT of inner city sites were higher by 1.3 °C during summer and 5 °C during winter compared to sub-urban sites. The magnitude followed the spatial land use patterns, in particular the amount of buildings. Consequently, out of 97 hot days (AT > 30 °C) in 3 years, 9 days above the extreme threshold of wet bulb globe temperature of 35 °C were recorded at a centre location compared to none at a sub-urban site. Extreme heat stress could be halved with 30–40% cover of greenspaces including grass lawns, green roofs, and green walls with little compromise in increasing winter cold stress.
Highlights
Green infrastructure (GI) has emerged as a feasible strategy for promoting adaptive capacities of cities to climate change by alleviating urban heat island (UHI) and heat stress for humans
Since all the meteorological stations were installed in such a way that they are not affected by shade at any time of the day, the global radiation was not different between different sites
Relative humidity (RH) and wind speed (WS) of the suburban sites (Rottendorfer Straße, Gerbrunn and LGS) were substantially higher and air temperature (AT) was considerably lower compared to the urban sites (Marktplatz, Zu-Rhein-Straße, Paradeplatz and Rennweg) over the 3 years of investigation
Summary
Green infrastructure (GI) has emerged as a feasible strategy for promoting adaptive capacities of cities to climate change by alleviating urban heat island (UHI) and heat stress for humans. Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) is one of the most commonly used indices for measuring heat stress in outdoor spaces, which is based on the output of Munich Energy Balance Model for Individuals (MEMI)[25]. Another commonly used index, universal thermal comfort index (UTCI) originates from an approach that was proposed over 10 years ago by the International Society of Biometeorology (ISB) Commission. This implies that a substantial shift in the working schedule is required under future climate scenarios if no countermeasures were taken
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