Review of the Urban Heat Island Phenomenon Analysis as an Adaptation to Climate Change in MAGHREB Cities

Abstract

The modelling of the urban microclimate, in particular the phenomenon of the Urban Heat Island (UHI), is becoming increasingly essential for city planning and urban design. The phenomenon analysis is henceforth possible thanks to the increase in computational power, the link between simulation tools and urban databases, which allow to represent explicitly the characteristics of the urban microclimate and to better understand its effects, through the analysis and evaluation of the different impacts of the urban climatic or anthropogenic contributors. However, the choice of the scale of the study depends on the accuracy of the modelling approaches, the capacities of calculation and the availability and reliability of the data. The contribution aims to highlight the phenomenon of the UHI based on a bibliographic study of the latest research on this topic in Maghreb cities and the different strategies for adapting them to climate change and for improving their resilience. KEYWORDS Urban microclimate, Urban Heat Island, mitigating approaches, strategies for adaptation and resilience, Maghreb cities.