Urban climate monitoring system (UCMS) was established in Novi Sad (Serbia) in 2014 based on the Local Climate Zones (LCZs) classifi cation system, GIS model calculations and fi eld work. Seven built and two land cover LCZ types were delineated and 27 stations equipped with air temperature and relative humidity sensors were distributed across all LCZs. Suitability of the developed monitoring system for human outdoor thermal comfort research in diff erent LCZs of the city and its surroundings was investigated during a heat wave period using Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) index. During the daytime (night-time) the highest thermal loads are present in open midrise (compact midrise) LCZ, while the most comfortable is LCZ A (dense trees) during the whole day. In general, the highest thermal loads are obtained in midrise, followed by low-rise, sparsely built, low plants and dense trees LCZs. All LCZs (except LCZ A-dense trees) had higher PET when compared to LCZ D (LCZ D-low plants) during evening and nocturnal hours with maximum diff erence of 7.1 °C (00 UTC) between LCZ 2 (compact midrise) and LCZ D (low plants). Contrary to this, LCZ D (low plants) had higher PET compared to the majority of LCZs during the daytime with maximum diff erence of 8.5 °C (9 UTC) when compared to LCZ A (dense trees). Furthermore, the smallest thermal comfort diff erences during heat wave occurred between LCZs with similar structure (i.e. open low-rise and large low-rise, compact midrise and compact low-rise) and cover (i.e. sparsely built and low plants).

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A comprehensive analysis of air temperature (T a ) dynamics in "local climate zones" (LCZs) of Novi Sad (Serbia) was based on measurements from 17 stations during 3 years. Hourly changes of T a , cooling rates (CR), heating rates (HR), and urban heat island (UHI) intensity were assessed on seasonal and annual level and during heat wave (HW) and cold wave (CW) periods. Substantial differences are observed for minimum (T min ) and mean temperatures (T mean ) between LCZs. Two-phase nocturnal cooling was recognized with the first cooling phase characterized by intensive LCZ dependent cooling starting at 1-3 h before sunset and lasting until 3-4 h after sunset. The second cooling phase lasts until sunrise and is characterized by less intensive and LCZ nondependent cooling. The most intensive cooling (CR peak ) was observed in first cooling phase of HW and ranged from − 1.6°C h −1 in street canyon (LCZ 2) to − 3.9°C h −1 in forest (LCZ A). Furthermore, a new cooling indicator (CR total ) was introduced. Due to cooling differences, the most intensive UHI of 5.5°C was noticed between LCZs 2 and A at sunset + 1 h during HW. Two-phase diurnal heating was also recognized in LCZs with the first heating phase characterized by intensive LCZ dependent heating starting at sunrise and lasting until 4-7 h afterwards. The most intensive heating (HR peak ) ranged from 2.0°C h −1 in street canyon to 3.0°C h −1 in industrial area (LCZ 8) during HW. The second heating phase lasts until sunset and is characterized by less intensive heating and smaller HR differences between LCZs.

Stara planina has great natural and anthropogenic potentials for tourism development that have not been recognized by tourism experts. Intensive state interest for tourism development started in 2006, when started building of the master plan for winter tourism development at Babin zub area. However, most of the central part of the mountain is part of Nature Park “Stara planina” that can be endangered by mass tourism development. Within this context, this paper researches potentials for ecotourism, as an alternative to future mass tourism development. Started projects of mass tourism development cannot be stopped, but also they do not have negative impacts to natural surroundings. The aim of this paper is to represent ecotourism as a “conscience”, a correction factor of mass tourism development