Statistical Review of Quality Parameters of Blue-Green Infrastructure Elements Important in Mitigating the Effect of the Urban Heat Island in the Temperate Climate (C) Zone

Patryk Antoszewski,Michał Krzyżaniak,Dariusz Świerk

doi:10.3390/ijerph17197093

Abstract

Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect relates to the occurrence of a positive heat balance, compared to suburban and extra-urban areas in a high degree of urbanized cities. It is necessary to develop effective UHI prevention and mitigation strategies, one of which is blue-green infrastructure (BGI). Most research work comparing impact of BGI parameters on UHI mitigation is based on data measured in different climate zones. This makes the implication of nature-based solutions difficult in cities with different climate zones due to the differences in the vegetation time of plants. The aim of our research was to select the most statistically significant quality parameters of BGI elements in terms of preventing UHI. The normative four-step data delimitation procedure in systematic reviews related to UHI literature was used, and temperate climate (C) zone was determined as the UHI crisis area. As a result of delimitation, 173 publications qualified for literature review were obtained (488 rejected). We prepared a detailed literature data analysis and the CVA model—a canonical variation of Fisher’s linear discriminant analysis (LDA). Our research has indicated that the BGI object parameters are essential for UHI mitigation, which are the following: area of water objects and green areas, street greenery leaf size (LAI), green roofs hydration degree, and green walls location. Data obtained from the statistical analysis will be used to create the dynamic BGI modeling algorithm, which is the main goal of the series of articles in the future.

Highlights

Cities from around the world face the same problem of overheating
Only some of them cover all blue-green infrastructure (BGI) solutions. These articles focus on the effectiveness of Urban Heat Island (UHI) mitigation by a given BGI solution, they mainly focus on uncontrolled parameters
A significant reduction of papers in the last phase of delimitation resulted from the fact that the researchers often analyzed the impact of only one parameter on UHI mitigation

Summary

Introduction

Cities from around the world face the same problem of overheating. Experiments confirm that this phenomenon occurs in over 400 cities [1,2,3,4]. Due to the negative impact of these factors on biodiversity and quality of life in the city, mitigation of UHI is probably one of the most significant challenges of the early XXI century [1,2,3,4]. Strategies and plans have been introduced to mitigate the UHI effect [5]. Specific solutions that fit into these activities can be divided into the material, structural, and planning strategies

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion