TY - JOUR
T1 - Reconceptualizing urban heat island
T2 - Beyond the urban-rural dichotomy
AU - Wang, Zhi Hua
N1 - Funding Information:
This study is based upon work supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant # AGS-1930629 and CBET-2028868 , and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under grant # 80NSSC20K1263 . The author thanks Dr. Chenghao Wang for preparation of the first Figure.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - Past decades have seen drastically increasing research effort and progress on the study of the phenomenon of urban heat island (UHI). Despite its simplicity, this convenient concept has promoted significant advances in scientific research and policy making processes in the urban environmental community. Nevertheless, the oversimplification and inadequacy of the urban-rural dichotomy, inherited in the UHI concept, is increasingly manifest today in the continuously urbanized world. In this study, we conduct a holistic and in-depth survey of the inadequacy of the urban-rural dichotomy intrinsic to the definition of UHI, from theoretical, technical, and practical perspectives. In addition, in the light of recent research advances, we urge to radically reconceptualize UHI by proposing a novel paradigm by treating the total urban environment as a complex dynamic system. The new framework broadens the frontier of conventional urban environmental study by utilizing advanced techniques of complex systems and data sciences, including complex network theory, machine learning techniques, causal inference, etc. The reconceptualization of UHI is also expected to foster decision making and urban planning, and to avoid the one-sidedness of the singular and often too exclusive aim of heat mitigation.
AB - Past decades have seen drastically increasing research effort and progress on the study of the phenomenon of urban heat island (UHI). Despite its simplicity, this convenient concept has promoted significant advances in scientific research and policy making processes in the urban environmental community. Nevertheless, the oversimplification and inadequacy of the urban-rural dichotomy, inherited in the UHI concept, is increasingly manifest today in the continuously urbanized world. In this study, we conduct a holistic and in-depth survey of the inadequacy of the urban-rural dichotomy intrinsic to the definition of UHI, from theoretical, technical, and practical perspectives. In addition, in the light of recent research advances, we urge to radically reconceptualize UHI by proposing a novel paradigm by treating the total urban environment as a complex dynamic system. The new framework broadens the frontier of conventional urban environmental study by utilizing advanced techniques of complex systems and data sciences, including complex network theory, machine learning techniques, causal inference, etc. The reconceptualization of UHI is also expected to foster decision making and urban planning, and to avoid the one-sidedness of the singular and often too exclusive aim of heat mitigation.
KW - Complex urban system
KW - Environmental sustainability
KW - Mitigation and adaptation
KW - Networks
KW - Urban heat island
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U2 - 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103581
DO - 10.1016/j.scs.2021.103581
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85120457070
VL - 77
JO - Sustainable Cities and Society
JF - Sustainable Cities and Society
SN - 2210-6707
M1 - 103581
ER -