Size Matters: What Are the Characteristic Source Areas for Urban Planning Strategies?
Urban environmental measurements and observational statistics should reflect the properties generated over an adjacent area of adequate length where homogeneity is usually assumed. The determination of this characteristic source area that gives sufficient representation of the horizontal coverage of a sensing instrument or the fetch of transported quantities is of critical importance to guide the design and implementation of urban landscape planning strategies. In this study, we aim to unify two different methods for estimating source areas, viz. the statistical correlation method commonly used by geographers for landscape fragmentation and the mechanistic footprint model by meteorologists for atmospheric measurements. Good agreement was found in the intercomparison of the estimate of source areas by the two methods, based on 2-m air temperature measurement collected using a network of weather stations. The results can be extended to shed new lights on urban planning strategies, such as the use of urban vegetation for heat mitigation. In general, a sizable patch of landscape is required in order to play an effective role in regulating the local environment, proportional to the height at which stakeholders' interest is mainly concerned.
School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, United States of America.
Zhi-Hua
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9155-8605
ZH
Wang
School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, United States of America.
Chao
C
Fan
School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, United States of America.
Soe W
SW
Myint
School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, 85287, United States of America.
Chenghao
C
Wang
D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis; D000465:Algorithms; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000032:analysis; D002947:Cities; D002958:City Planning / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003252:Construction Materials / Q000032:analysis; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D000072506:Gardens; D006358:Hot Temperature; D006801:Humans; D008834:Microclimate; D008962:Models, Theoretical
D000393:Air Pollutants