Seasonal impact of urban parks on land surface temperature (LST) in semi-arid city of Tehran

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of parks as an element of urban green infrastructure on regulating surface temperature in the semi-arid city of Tehran, Iran. Land surface temperature (LST) of parks and their immediate surroundings, derived from Landsat images of winter to autumn 2017, are analysed in two urban districts with different local climate zones and population density levels. The results show that the highest levels of cooling impact are observed in spring and summer for parks larger than 1 ha in the compact midrise setting. Although area and vegetation cover influence the impact of parks in all sizes, parks shape becomes important in parks larger than 1 ha in open built zones. To benefit from LST regulating services of park vegetation cover and facilitate achieving sustainable urban landscapes, it is recommended to opt for 1–10 ha parks, where possible, and improve vegetation cover inside parks, particularly in parks smaller than 1 ha.