Understanding the effects land use and urban form on the urban heat island in Can Tho city, Vietnam 

Abstract

<p>Climate change and social-economic development are expected to compound climate changes risks. For southeast Asian cities, the occurrence of urban heat islands and extreme heat waves are a current and future concern for public health, well-being and household energy consumption due to increased cooling demands of urban residents and limited resources to cope. Urban heat island studies using remotely sensed imagery have already revealed that Vietnam’s major cities are characterized by strong temperature differences between urban and rural areas. As such implementing adaptation measures is paramount to limit adverse impacts of heat on urban inhabitants. While different adaptation measures are currently debated by the political authorities in Vietnam, decision-making is hampered by multiple scientific knowledge gaps and the lack of practical tools to support decision-making. This paper presents an approach to investigate the pattern and characteristics of the urban heat island in Can Tho City, located in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. This study investigated the relationship between urban heat with urban structure types, building density and blue and green spaces. An urban structure type approach was used to classify and partition the city into spatial units of different types of buildings (housing archetypes, functions, infrastructure), degrees of planning (regular, irregular), densities and open spaces on the official block geometry of the official land use plan and linked to remotely sensed land surface temperatures. The results in the form of a series of risk analysis maps at a planning relevant scale, confirm the effects of land uses and urban structures on local temperatures and allow policy makers and planners to better understanding of the relationship between the urban temperatures, functions and densities in order to reduce the UHI and promote more sustainable and resilient urban development.</p>