ABSTRACT One key ecosystem service widely known and attributed to trees in the urban environment is their ability to provide shade through their canopies and undertake evapotranspiration cooling. These in turn contribute to reduced atmospheric temperatures. A lesser-known aspect with little quantitative data is the heterogeneous temperature environment beneath the canopies at pedestrian or street level where the cooling will benefit thermal comfort. This study was conducted throughout 2022. It collected data where air temperature was measured under the canopies of two urban tropical tree species, Samanea saman and Peltophotum pterocarpum, at three different heights, which were 1, 3 and 5 m, respectively, from the ground. This was to investigate whether crown architectures and the associated shade and cooling effects via transpiration can have a significant change in the surrounding temperature. The study observed surface and air temperatures coupled with meteorological data across cool, warm, and hot periods of the year. It was observed that soil temperature increased alongside increases in atmospheric temperatures with a more significant rise observed for P. pterocarpum despite the observation of greater wind speeds for both night and day at the site where this species was situated. The soil moisture potential data indicated the reverse where S. saman showed more negative values with the greatest increase under warm conditions. Interestingly, sap flow rates also indicated that P. pterocarpum had more efficient rates whether conditions were cool, warm, or hot, suggestive of more active transpirational cooling. This was despite a lower leaf area index, smaller crown volume and sap wood area for this species. Relationship analyses between sap flow and air temperatures at different heights under the canopies showed a positive correlation. This demonstrates that apart from shade provided by the canopies, transpiration is also an important parameter for cooling. The mean daytime air temperature indicated that the greatest cooling effect was experienced at the lowest level from the ground (at 1 m), and this was consistent for both species across cool, warm, and hot conditions with a significant cooling effect of between 2.3 and 4°C. Temperature data under the canopy (1 to 5 m from the ground) compared to the air temperature of the grass that was shaded indicated temperature differences of between 2.3 and 7.9°C at 5 m and between 1.9 and 5.6°C at 1 m (for both species) with a bigger reduction attributed to S. saman.