Coastal development and the increase in impervious surfaces lead to greater stormwater volumes, a key contributor to nonpoint source pollution. Stormwater ponds are generally highly efficient in eliminating particle-bound nutrients, such as phosphorus, but are often much less effective at removing dissolved nutrients, like nitrogen. Excess inorganic nitrogen can lead to coastal eutrophication, harmful cyanobacterial blooms, and coastal hypoxia. However, inorganic nitrogen can be removed from the environment through several different microbially facilitated processes. This research aims to estimate the rates of nitrogen removal (i.e., by denitrification), the net N2 fluxes, and internal recycling (DNRA) across the sediment-water interface in a range of stormwater ponds that differ in both the presence of vegetation or lack thereof and vegetation type/coverage. Rates of nitrogen removal (denitrification) were significantly higher in the vegetated stormwater ponds (36.9 - 774.2 µmol N m-2 h-1) compared to the non-vegetated ponds (6.4 - 35.1 µmol N m-2 h-1). Moreover, the average net N2 fluxes from the sediments to the water column were positive in vegetated ponds (4.7 - 85.8 µmol N m-2 h-1). In contrast, unvegetated ponds exhibited predominantly negative N2 fluxes (-70.9 - 4.4 µmol N m-2 h-1). These results indicate that the majority of net nitrogen removal occurred in vegetated ponds, while nitrogen fixation, which refers to the input of newly fixed atmospheric nitrogen, was prevalent in unvegetated ponds. Thus, unvegetated ponds not only proved ineffective in eliminating dissolved nitrogen but also typically served as a net source of newly fixed dissolved nitrogen. Planting native vegetation along the perimeters or allowing the growth of floating plants (e.g. lily pads) in stormwater ponds is strongly recommended, as it aids in the permanent removal of dissolved nitrogen before it enters coastal areas.

• ENVI-met parameterisation incorporating field- and laboratory-derived soil data advances OTC modelling beyond standard database inputs. • ENVI-met modelling reveals significant OTC differences across LCZs of Ljubljana. • Mean OTC varies by up to 12.44 °C between LCZs on hot summer days. • Tree shade reduces heat stress by up to 8.43 °C in Ljubljana's urban landscape. Owing to the specific thermal conditions of the urban environment, such as a high proportion of impervious surfaces, low tree cover, high building density, and low surface albedo, residents in these areas experience altered outdoor thermal comfort (OTC). Although these conditions generally contribute to elevated heat stress during hot summer days, this phenomenon varies spatially and temporally. Numerous studies have examined OTC indices across different cities using various modelling techniques; however, the preparation of spatial input data is often insufficiently addressed. Therefore, the study aims to quantify and assess OTC across selected Local Climate Zones (LCZs) in Ljubljana, as well as the effect of existing tree shading on OTC improvement, by advancing a modelling workflow that explicitly incorporates detailed field-derived urban soil characteristics into ENVI-met simulations. This was achieved through interdisciplinary field and laboratory measurements combined with urban microclimatic modelling. The fieldwork included micrometeorological measurements, soil sampling, surface albedo measurements, and green infrastructure mapping. The results revealed statistically significant differences in Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) indices between 13:00 and 15:00 local time across the LCZs. LCZ A exhibited the lowest levels of heat stress, whereas LCZ 8 experienced the highest. The average differences in UTCI and PET between these two zones were 9.23 °C and 12.44 °C, respectively. Further analysis demonstrated that existing tree shade significantly improved OTC. Across all LCZs, the average thermal comfort improved by 5.67 °C (UTCI) and 8.43 °C (PET) under tree shade compared to areas exposed to direct solar radiation.

A case study of urban heat island dynamics in metro-integrated urban canyons in Chennai, India

Urbanization alters riverine fluorescent dissolved organic matter characteristics in a forested city - metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia (USA).

Urban areas frequently encounter environmental challenges such as the reduction of green open spaces, water shortages during the dry season, and water ponding during the rainy season. These problems are mainly caused by rapid urbanization and the expansion of impervious surfaces, which reduce natural infiltration capacity and increase surface runoff. As a result, groundwater recharge decreases while the potential for urban flooding becomes higher. Similar conditions are observed in Enggal District, located in the central area of Bandar Lampung City, Indonesia. Therefore, effective stormwater management strategies are required to mitigate surface runoff while improving groundwater conservation. This study aims to estimate the required number of infiltration wells needed to achieve zero run-off conditions in Enggal District. The study area covers approximately 2.80 km² and consists of six urban villages with a population of 24,611 in 2025 based on the Enggal District Report. Land-use analysis indicates that the area has a surface runoff coefficient of 0.55. Hydrological analysis was conducted using 20 years of rainfall data (2005–2024) to determine rainfall characteristics and runoff potential. The rainfall intensity analysis for a 10-year return period produced a peak discharge of 15.88 m³/s with a rainfall intensity of 37.23 mm/h. Several designs with 2 scenarios were developed by considering variations in infiltration well dimensions and land availability within the study area. The results show that achieving full runoff reduction requires 934 infiltration wells with a diameter of 0.8 m and a depth of 2.0 m,

In light of the accelerating process of global urbanization, the quality of cultural ecosystem services (CES) in urban parks has become a core metric for efforts to promote urban livability and sustainable cities. However, previous research has failed to consider the differential impacts of the external environment across various travel scenes. In this study, 32 parks in Chengdu serve as the empirical data, and public CES perception data are extracted from social media comments via text mining. Based on a unified 15 min time threshold, we delineate the service scope for four travel scenes and employ geographically weighted regression and piecewise regression models to analyze the spatial heterogeneity, driving mechanisms and threshold effects associated with the relationship between external environmental factors and park CES. The findings indicate that the external environment’s influence on CES exhibits a “scene-factor-scale” adaptation pattern. Walking scenes are influenced primarily by land-use and population factors; in contrast, cycling scenes rely on the availability of shared bicycle facilities, and public transport and driving scenes are driven by economic vitality and traffic-support factors, respectively. Five critical thresholds are identified, including a 40% impervious surface area. This research proposes scene-based optimization strategies and helps enhance the “external environment–travel behavior–spatial characteristics” coupling framework, thereby serving as a scientific reference for efforts to improve 15 min living circles.

Rapid urbanization and the widespread expansion of impervious surfaces have intensified urban heat stress in tropical megacities, amplifying the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect and associated environmental and public health risks. Dhaka, Bangladesh, is particularly vulnerable due to its high population density, limited green space, and pronounced pre-monsoon heat extremes. Rooftop gardens have been proposed as a nature-based solution for urban heat mitigation; however, empirical, building-scale evidence from dense tropical cities remains limited. This study evaluates the cooling effects of rooftop gardens on rooftop land surface temperature (LST) in Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) using satellite-based observations. Building footprints were obtained from the Google Open Buildings dataset and validated using high-resolution imagery. Rooftop gardens were identified through a combined manual and remote sensing approach, classifying 2,012 buildings with rooftop gardens and 43,553 buildings without. Daytime LST was derived for the pre-monsoon period (March–May) of 2022 using Landsat 8 Collection 2 Level-2 data processed in Google Earth Engine. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare mean temperatures, thermal variability, and extreme temperature conditions between the two building categories. The results show that rooftop gardens reduce mean rooftop LST by up to 1.99 °C during peak heat in May and suppress extreme rooftop temperatures by 3.9–6.4 °C across the pre-monsoon season. Vegetated rooftops also exhibit reduced thermal variability and fewer extreme temperature occurrences. These findings demonstrate that rooftop gardens offer significant thermal benefits under extreme climatic conditions and represent a scalable, low-cost nature-based strategy for mitigating urban heat stress in rapidly urbanizing tropical cities.

Climate extremes are intensifying worldwide, yet the mechanisms by which forest biomass responds to compound climatic and anthropogenic pressures remain poorly resolved. Here, we integrate multi-sensor remote sensing with explainable machine learning to quantify the interactions between multiple drivers and changes in aboveground biomass density (ΔAGBD) across a subtropical monsoon region of China during 2000–2019. Annual ΔAGBD maps were derived from Landsat and GEDI, and hotspots of climatic extremes were delineated using ETCCDI(Expert Team on Climate Change Detection and Indices). Across 92 predictors, attribution indicates that—even within areas exposed to extremes—AGBD is not driven by extreme events alone. Bioclimatic and extreme-climate variables dominate overall variability, whereas topography and human disturbance strongly modulate their effects. Gradient analyses further show that climatic influences intensify with elevation and heat load, whereas anthropogenic impacts remain pronounced at low population densities and in areas distant from impervious surfaces. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that biomass dynamics under climatic extremes do not arise from a single climatic forcing but from the mutual regulation of climate, topography, and human pressure. This nonlinear, compound-mechanism framework provides a transferable basis for assessing ecosystem vulnerability and designing adaptive, resilience-oriented management strategies under intensifying climate extremes.

Abstract Introduction Urban soil unsealing, the removal of impervious surface layers, is increasingly promoted as a habitat restoration strategy to enhance ecosystem resilience in cities. Yet, its potential to support soil biodiversity from the onset remains underexplored. Objectives This study aimed to assess how quickly and under what conditions newly unsealed urban soils become colonized by ant communities, key bioindicators of ecological restoration. Methods We monitored ant communities over two consecutive years in 20 recently unsealed schoolyards in the southern France. A total of 918 attractive baits were deployed across 135 unsealed plots with different types of soil cover. Species richness, abundance, and multivariate analyses were used to explore spatial and temporal trends in community assembly. Results Twenty‐nine ant species were identified, representing nearly 15% of the French metropolitan species pool. Regardless of the ground cover type, species richness and abundance increased significantly from 1 year to the next. Remarkably, in unsealed lawns, within only 1 year diversity levels had already reached those observed in pre‐existing lawns. Furthermore, landscape variables including land use composition and configuration appeared to play a primary role in shaping ant community composition. Conclusions Using a combination of snapshot monitoring across differently aged unsealed areas and interannual comparisons, this study documents early‐stage ant colonization dynamics in urban schoolyards following soil unsealing. The results highlight the role of time since unsealing and surrounding landscape context in shaping initial community assembly, while emphasizing that these patterns reflect early responses rather than long‐term restoration outcomes.

ABSTRACT Current studies on extracting urban built-up areas using multi-source data have predominantly focused on megacities and large cities, overlooking medium and small cities. Moreover, the applicability of existing methods across cities of varying scales lacks systematic analysis. To address this issue, we select four representative cities of varying scales – Hefei (megacity), Fuyang (large city), Lixin (medium city), and Ningguo (small city) – as study areas. We employ two established indices (PLANUI and PRLANI) and propose a new NRVD index that integrates Night-time Light (NTL), road networks, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and impervious surface data. Built-up areas are extracted using the Densi-Graph method and Otsu algorithm, and the applicability of each method across cities of different scales is systematically evaluated. The results indicate that: (1) The Densi-Graph method generally outperforms the Otsu algorithm. All three indices apply to megacities, PRLANI and NRVD work well in large cities, and only NRVD suits medium and small cities. (2) The NRVD index demonstrates strong cross-scale applicability. (3) The applicability of built-up area extraction methods exhibits a distinct scale effect, fundamentally due to the varying match between data features relied upon by multi-source indices and the actual development intensity of different-scale cities.

River ecosystems and the whole system are largely negatively affected by the development of cities, and consequently alter the natural environment. The processes of Urban development lead to alterations in the quantity, quality, species density, and velocity of water. The high pace of urbanization generates modifications in land cover and lowers the number of natural areas and the population utilizing rivers to drink and perform other activities. The natural mechanisms that dictate the movement of water are disrupted, and this results in increased flow of water over the ground surface and flows into the water bodies with contaminants. The study carried out in this project examines the effect of urbanization on rivers in terms of alterations in water quality and extinction of aquatic species. This assessment involves a sub-selection of aquatic indicators, including the Water Quality Index (WQI) and potential runoff, as well as biodiversity indices, in order to provide a quantitative measure of the impact of urbanization on the aquatic ecosystems. Urbanization in general leads to a 30-50 % rise in surface runoff, a reduction in water quality by 20-40 %, and a reduction in biodiversity, especially on the shore where the area was filled with impervious surfaces. Loss of ecosystem services, like purification of water and floods, affects the health of humans adversely by forcing them to consume water that is not safe and live in an environment of increased susceptibility to diseases. The study offers solutions for sustainable urban planning. The study proposes green infrastructure and ecosystem restoration solutions as sustainable urban planning solutions to minimize the environmental effects. The research shows that the urban planning of river ecosystems can enhance the resilience of the ecosystem by incorporating ecological considerations in urban development planning. The study proves that urban planning requires a holistic approach that can integrate land development with the preservation of natural resources so that river ecosystems can be maintained for future generations.

Urban districts are increasingly exposed to overlapping heat stress and stormwater loads driven by warming trends, more intense rainfall, and continued growth of impervious surfaces. Pavements occupy a large share of the public right-of-way, so their material and structural design offers a scalable pathway for urban climate adaptation. Yet the literature on porous asphalt remains fragmented, with hydrological performance often assessed using infiltration or permeability metrics in isolation, while thermal studies frequently report surface cooling without consistently tracking the governing water budget or its persistence. To reconcile these disconnected strands, this review synthesizes a conceptual hydro-thermal balance framework in which runoff mitigation and heat moderation are treated as a coupled problem controlled by storage, drainage pathways, and evaporative demand. Within this framing, cooling is primarily water-limited: permeability enables wetting and redistribution, but the magnitude and duration of temperature reduction depend on how much water is retained near the surface and how long it remains available for evaporation, rather than on permeability alone. The review integrates the current understanding of mixture structure and pore connectivity, permeability–storage behavior, moisture availability and evaporation, and the operational factors that govern performance persistence. Laboratory and field evaluation approaches are summarized alongside modeling methods used to interpret coupled hydro-thermal responses under different climates. Practical constraints—including clogging, maintenance requirements, and durability risks under repeated moisture–temperature cycling—are discussed as mechanisms that can progressively suppress both infiltration and water availability, undermining long-term function without performance-based specifications and life-cycle planning. Finally, design and policy implications are outlined for integrating porous asphalt into coordinated heat-and-stormwater strategies, and research priorities are identified to advance standardization, long-term monitoring, and coupled hydro-thermal–mechanical assessment.

Urban areas across Europe are undergoing rapid morphological transformations driven by densification, redevelopment, and infrastructure expansion. Monitoring these urban changes requires operational, harmonized, and reproducible approaches grounded in Earth Observation. This study presents a Copernicus use case demonstrating how the High-Resolution Layer Imperviousness Change (2015–2018) and Urban Atlas datasets can be integrated with the Guidos Toolbox (GTB) to quantify structural urban change across six metropolitan areas (Milan, Sofia, Riga, Warsaw, Viseu, Santander). Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis (MSPA) and entropy-based indicators were applied to characterize land take, fragmentation, compaction, and internal reorganization of impervious surfaces. The combined framework captured both configurational morphology and spatial disorder, revealing divergent development patterns: pronounced heterogeneity and fragmentation in Sofia, stabilization or compact growth in Milan, Warsaw, and Santander, controlled densification in Riga, and localized intensification without outward expansion in Viseu. All analyses rely on openly accessible Copernicus data and open-source tools, ensuring full reproducibility and transferability. Outputs were disseminated through a FAIR-compliant geoportal developed within a Copernicus FPCUP project, supporting transparency and reuse. The findings underscore the value of Copernicus services for operational urban monitoring and provide a scalable methodology to support European land-use policies, including the Zero Net Land Take 2050 target and the EU Soil Strategy.

The rapid growth of cities and expansion of impervious surfaces have intensified surface runoff problems and urban flooding risk. This scenario, exacerbated by the effects of climate change, demands sustainable and integrated solutions. Thus, this study evaluates the pre-feasibility of implementing sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) in the Monteverde neighborhood in Montería, Colombia; an area that is critically affected by floods during rainfall events. Using the storm water management model (SWMM) and hydrological simulations based on design hyetographs for different return periods, the performance of a conventional drainage system was compared with five scenarios using SUDS. To determine the modeling scenarios, a decision-making method through the analytic hierarchy process, AHP, was used to select the most appropriate SUDS. The results showed that implementing storage tanks reduces peak flows at outlets 1 and 2 up to 50%, while bioretention zones and rain gardens in isolation showed reduced effectiveness (<6%). Combining strategies slightly improves overall efficiency, although the impact keeps being dominated by tanks. This study demonstrates that the incorporation of SUDS in vulnerable urban areas lessens water risks, strengthens urban resilience, promotes rainwater harvesting, and eases the transition to a more sustainable infrastructure. In addition, it proposes a methodology that can be replicated in other similar Latin American cities.

Climate change and rapid urbanization are intensifying urban pluvial flooding and threatening sustainable urban development. This study proposes a three-stage, four-dimensional framework (TSFD-UPFR) to assess urban pluvial flood resilience across resistance, response, and recovery phases that integrate natural, infrastructural, social, and economic dimensions. Using a representative urban catchment affected by a typical extreme rainfall event, we couple hydrological–hydrodynamic simulations with multi-source remote sensing and socio-economic indicators at a 100 m grid resolution to enable spatially explicit assessment. The results indicate moderate overall resilience with pronounced spatial heterogeneity. Resistance is primarily constrained by drainage capacity and impervious surfaces, response is shaped by road connectivity and public service accessibility, and recovery is determined by essential facility restoration and economic support. Low-resilience clusters are concentrated in dense built-up areas and transport hubs, revealing structural weaknesses in adaptive capacity. By linking flood processes with socio-economic recovery dynamics, the framework captures cross-stage interactions within urban systems. The findings support climate-adaptive planning, targeted infrastructure investment, and resilience-oriented governance, contributing to sustainable and equitable urban transformation in megacities facing intensifying extreme rainfall.

The development of industrial areas significantly increases surface runoff by expanding impervious surfaces, potentially exceeding the capacity of existing drainage systems and increasing flood risk. In many industrial zones, stormwater management infrastructure must also accommodate additional discharge from retention pond spillways, which can further burden road drainage systems. In the study area, spillway outflow from a retention pond is conveyed into the road drainage network, requiring an adequately designed culvert system to accommodate the flow safely. This study aims to analyze the hydraulic capacity and design an appropriate road culvert drainage system to convey spillway outflow in an industrial area. Secondary data on design flood discharge were obtained from previous studies that conducted rainfall frequency analysis, flood discharge estimation using the Nakayasu Synthetic Unit Hydrograph method, and spillway routing analysis. The results show that the design flood discharge for the 100-year return period (Q100) is 8.68 m³/s. A hydraulic analysis using the Manning equation was performed to determine the culvert dimensions required to convey the design discharge safely. The analysis indicates that the proposed culvert system is hydraulically adequate. A culvert with a diameter of 2.0 m is installed in the upstream section to accommodate concentrated inflow from the spillway outlet. In comparison, two parallel culverts with a diameter of 1.3 m are installed along the middle-to-downstream sections on both sides of the road. This configuration provides a total discharge capacity of 8.752 m³/s, exceeding the design flood discharge. The results demonstrate that the proposed design improves drainage Reliability in industrial areas and contributes to flood mitigation by regulating runoff discharge, thereby reducing potential flood risk in downstream residential areas. These findings provide practical guidance for infrastructure planning and policy strategies to integrate industrial drainage systems with regional flood mitigation efforts.

Critical thresholds in urbanization-vegetation dynamics: Multiscale remote sensing evidence from Chinese cities.

Nonlinear response and threshold identification for arid ecosystem resilience to coupled stressors from extreme climate events and anthropogenic activities.

Occurrence, landscape impact, and risk assessments of pesticides in a major river basin of a tropical island, South China.

Expanding horizons of ecological and evolutionary research in urban heat islands.