Quantifying the impact of trees on land surface temperature: a downscaling algorithm at city-scale

The climate of a city influences the ways in which its outdoor spaces are used. Especially public spaces intended for use by pedestrians and cyclists, such as parks, squares, residential and shopping streets, foot-paths and cycle-paths will be used and enjoyed more frequently when they have a comfortable and healthy climate. Due to a predicted global temperature rise, the climate is likely to be more uncomfortable especially in summer, when an increase in heat stress is expected. ‘Urban forestry’ has been proposed as one approach to mitigate the human health consequences of increased temperatures resulting from climate change. The aims of the research are: to provide a transferable methodology useful to analyze the effect of urban trees on the reduction surface temperature particularly in public spaces; to provide high- resolution urban mapping for adaptation strategies to climate change based on green space projects. The results identified that the main project dimensions on which to base climate adaptation strategies is the design of efficient public green spaces. In conclusion, the proposed model was used to validate the efficiency of the design simulations of new green spaces in temperature mitigation.