Urban green and blue infrastructure effect on the micro-scale thermal environment in a residential neighborhood: Mueller, Austin, TX

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examined the role and importance of various green and blue infrastructure elements in improving the deteriorating urban thermal environment from a post-occupancy evaluation perspective of residential neighborhood development. The results showed that the influential variables in this study were the tree canopy coverage ratio (TCR), tree species, yard area, and distance to a waterbody. In addition, a house with a large yard area increases the amount of direct exposure to solar radiation, so the comfort of the outdoor thermal environment was low. Furthermore, the distance to a waterbody parameter did not have a positive impact on the outdoor thermal comfort level because the dominant wind direction within the study area during the day was opposite to the blue infrastructure. Lastly, geographically weighted regression (GWR) analysis was adopted to identify an improvement to compensate for the relatively low explanatory nature of the ordinary least squares (OLS) models due to spatial correlation.