Exploring the impact of 2-D/3-D building morphology on the land surface temperature: A case study of three megacities in China

Abstract

The urban heat island (UHI) effect in cities and its driving factors have long been investigated. 3-D buildings are key components of urban structures and have notable effect on the UHI effect. However, due to the incomplete 3-D building information in urban database, only a few studies investigated the impact of 3-D building morphology factors on the land surface temperature (LST). In this study, a total set of 14 2-D and 3-D building morphology factors were selected to investigate the correlation between UHI and building morphology across three megacities in China (Beijing, Wuhan, Shanghai) with Landsat-8 LST scenarios in summer and winter of 2018 and 2019, respectively. Both Spearman correlation and partial correlation analysis were applied at block scale after urban functional zone (UFZ) mapping. A number of significant observations were noted based on the multispatial and multitemporal experimental results:1) both 2-D and 3-D building morphology factors influence LST, among them building coverage ratio, building ground area divided by facade area (GA2FA), and sky view factor yield stronger correlations with LST; 2) UFZ mapping scheme and partial correlation method help with controlling the anthropogenic heat release, greenspace, and water bodies coverage variables when targeting at the influence of building morphology factors on LST. This study provides insights for building morphology design in future urban planning and management.