title: The Impact of Greenspace on Thermal Comfort in a Residential Quarter of Beijing, China.
abstract: With the process of urbanization, a large number of residential quarters, which is the main dwelling form in the urban area of Beijing, have been developed in last three decades to accommodate the rising population. In the context of intensification of urban heat island (UHI), the potential degradation of the thermal environment of residential quarters can give rise to a variety of problems affecting inhabitants' health. This paper reports the results of a numerical study of the thermal conditions of a residential quarter on a typical summertime day under four greening modification scenarios, characterized by different leaf area density (LAD) profiles. The modelling results demonstrated that vegetation could evidently reduce near-surface air temperature, with the combination of grass and mature trees achieving as much as 1.5 °C of air temperature decrease compared with the non-green scenario. Vegetation can also lead to smaller air temperature fluctuations, which contribute to a more stable microclimate. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was then calculated to represent the variation of thermal environment of the study area. While grass is helpful in improving outdoor thermal comfort, trees are more effective in reducing the duration and expansion of suffering from severe heat stress. The results of this study showed that proper maintenance of vegetation, especially trees, is significant to improving the outdoor thermal environment in the summer season. In consideration of the deficiency of the current code in the management of greenspace in residential areas, we hope the results reported here will help promote the improvement of the code and related regulations for greenspace management.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. iamwuzf@163.com.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. iamwuzf@163.com.
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: International Institute for Earth System Science, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China. fanhuakong@163.com.
authors.forename: Fanhua
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. wangyening0@163.com.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. wangyening0@163.com.
authors.forename: Yening
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. rhsun@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Ranhao
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China. liding@rcees.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Liding
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000068476:Beijing; D001833:Body Temperature Regulation; D002681:China; D002980:Climate; D004779:Environment Design; D018882:Heat Stress Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D008834:Microclimate; D010944:Plants; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature
keywords: ENVI-met; LAD; UTCI; cooling effects of vegetation; residential quarter; thermal stress; urban heat island