Urban Heat Island vulnerability mapping using advanced GIS data and tools

Abstract

Urban Heat Island (UHI) is a phenomenon that can cause hotspots in city areas due to dense, impervious infrastructure and minimal vegetation cover. UHI hotspots may become worse in extreme heat events that are already aAecting many regions across the globe due to increased frequent hot extremes, humaninduced warming in cities, and rapidly growing urbanization, as documented by the latest IPCC report 2021. In seeking to support designers, planners, and decision-makers in developing and implementing adaptation strategies and measures to make our cities sustainable and resilient, reliable projections and modelling are required. In this study, we modelled UHI vulnerability using high-resolution spatial data, advanced geospatial tools, and socio-demographic data. This modiBed vulnerability approach drew upon UHI index maps and 20 select customized indicators of heat exposure, population sensitivity, and mobility/adaptive capacity. The indicators were Delphi evaluated and weighted, and the methodology was applied against the City of Greater Geelong municipality in Australia. The resulting UHI index maps indicated significant hotspots in areas of high building density, commercial/industrial zones, newly constructed sites, and zones with low urban green infrastructure. These UHI maps, in combination with selected indicators, highlighted the areal concentration of heat risk areas and vulnerable locations for the sensitive human population. The highlighted areas were primarily concentrated in high building density and high population density areas, which was seen through correlation curves. However, the building

Identifying Vulnerable Population in Urban Heat Island: A Literature Review

“…84 The simultaneous effect of greater temperatures, limited access to cooling measure, and reduced green space cause residents in densely populated places more vulnerable to the negative impacts of UHI. 80 Health status The susceptibility of individuals to the effects of urban heat islands and elevated temperature is influenced by their health status. In this review we found that, those with chronic illnesses, disabilities, limited mobility, and taking specific medication, were particularly vulnerable to negative health effects in extreme temperatures.…”

Rural households' livelihood adaptation strategies in the face of changing climate: A case study from Pakistan

“…Climate change and its induced disasters have become more frequent and severe during the past few decades, having severe ramifications for many sectors of countries around the world [ 1 , 2 ]. The changes, such as temperature fluctuations, rainfall variability, and shifts in the arrival of seasons, have triggered various risks, especially in sectors such as agriculture [ 3 , 4 ].…”

Heat vulnerability digital mapping at neighbourhood level in the compact city

“…Urban Heat Vulnerability (HV) has been widely investigated in light of the urgency to adapt and mitigate climate change impacts on inhabitants and the built environment. An increasing number of methods -and associated indicators -based mostly on statistical data have been developed in recent years [1][2][3][4][5][6]. For these reasons, a relevant number of studies use the census-tract level for HV assessment, due to the need to find accessible data and calculate the demographic, socioeconomic and environmental indicators constraining the modelling [7].…”