Proposal of LCZ categories and standards considering super high‐rise buildings suited for Asian cities based on the analysis of urban morphological properties of Tokyo

Abstract

The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) scheme is an urban classification system which classifies urban areas into discrete local climates by morphological and land cover characteristics, proposed based on urban heat island researches in 1970s to 2000s. However, while the original scheme defines high‐rise buildings as areas higher than 25 m on average, buildings over 100 m have become more common in Asia since the 2000s. With the heterogeneity of urban areas, directly applying the original LCZ scheme to Asian cities has become difficult. Studies to incorporate the heterogeneity of urban morphology into the scheme have been conducted by researchers, although the increase in the number of taller buildings is not explored. This study proposes, LCZ categories and standards considering the super high‐rise buildings in Asian cities for a detailed categorization of urban morphology. For this, the urban morphological characteristics of Tokyo Metropolis, with a wide range of morphologies that exist in Asian cities, were analyzed. The proposal was made based on this analysis in relation to the thermal characteristics. Then, the characteristics of land surface temperature in each LCZ category were investigated in Shanghai and Xi'an, which indicated the applicability of the proposed categories to mid to large scale Asian cities.

Exploration of Influencing Factors of Land Surface Temperature in Cities Within the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region Based on Local Climate Zone Scheme

“…The methodology for LCZ mapping can be broadly categorized into two distinct approaches: the GIS-based method and the satellite image-based method [62], [63], [64]. The GISbased method generated LCZ maps based on calculated physical properties, including average building height, building coverage ratio, pervious surface fraction, and others [20], [62]. The satellite image-based method employs training samples of each LCZ type and supervised classification algorithms to generate LCZ maps for study areas [21], [29].…”

“…However, the effectiveness of GIS-based method relies on the availability of high-quality GIS data, which is often difficult to obtain [62], [66]. Moreover, some studies have pointed out that the LCZ factors ranges recommended by Stewart and Oke cannot match some LCZ types in Asian cities [20], [21], [29]. For the BTH Region in Asia, there are still challenges in determining the appropriate factors ranges for each LCZ type.…”

“…On the other hand, since air temperature is more susceptible to influences from natural environmental factors such as atmospheric flow (e.g., sea breezes, land breezes) and climatic conditions, it is often difficult to accurately reflect the influence of characteristics of different urban regions on the urban thermal environment [20], [21]. In contrast, LST is primarily influenced by urban morphology, land cover, and human activities [22].…”

An investigation into urban heat mitigation by adopting local climate zones and land surface temperatures in the Tokyo prefecture

“…The Tokyo Metropolitan Area is also subject to increases in heat stroke incidence rates 2 and accommodates a society which is aging rapidly 15 . Furthermore, a limited number of studies have specifically investigated the relationship between building height and density and UHI intensity in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area 16 . Nor have the implications for urban heat mitigation been extensively considered.…”

“…15 Furthermore, a limited number of studies have specifically investigated the relationship between building height and density and UHI intensity in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. 16 Nor have the implications for urban heat mitigation been extensively considered. Adopting the wet bulb globe temperature, Wang, Gao, Zhou, Kammen, & Peng 17 found that higher-rise and medium density buildings have comparatively lower heat stress levels in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.…”