Urban heat island mitigation by green infrastructure in European Functional Urban Areas

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is one of the most harmful environmental hazards for urban dwellers. Climate change is expected to increase the intensity of the UHI effect. In this context, the implementation of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) can partially reduce UHI intensity, promoting a resilient urban environment and contributing to climate change adaptation and mitigation. In order to achieve this result, there is a need to systematically integrate UGI into urban planning and legislation, but this process is subject to the availability of widely applicable, easily accessible and quantitative evidence. To offer a big picture of urban heat intensity and opportunities to mitigate high temperatures, we developed a model that reports the Ecosystem Service (ES) of microclimate regulation of UGI in 601 European cities. The model simulates the temperature difference between a baseline and a no-vegetation scenario, extrapolating the role of UGI in mitigating UHI in different urban contexts. Finally, a practical, quantitative indicator that can be applied by policymakers and city administrations has been elaborated, allowing to estimate the amount of urban vegetation that is needed to cool summer temperatures by a certain degree. UGI is found to cool European cities by 1.07 degrees C on average, and up to 2.9 degrees C, but in order to achieve a 1 degrees C drop in urban temperatures, a tree cover of at least 16% is required. The microclimate regulation ES is mostly dependent on the amount of vegetation inside a city and by transpiration and canopy evaporation. Furthermore, in almost 40% of the countries, more than half of the residing population does not benefit from the microclimate regulation service provided by urban vegetation. Widespread implementation of UGI, in particular in arid regions and cities with insufficient tree cover, is key to ensure healthy urban living conditions for citizens.

Automated summary

The Urban Heat Island effect is a harmful environmental hazard for urban residents, and its intensity is expected to increase with climate change. Urban Green Infrastructure can help reduce the intensity of the UHI effect, contributing to resilient urban environments and climate change adaptation and mitigation. It is necessary to integrate UGI into urban planning and legislation, supported by widely applicable and easily accessible quantitative evidence.