The Role of Vegetation to Mitigate Surface Urban Heat Island in Urban Areas: A Review

Abstract

The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of vegetation in reducing urban temperatures and mitigating the Surface-UHI (SUHI) effect. This review synthesizes existing research on vegetation's cooling effects in urban areas. A comparative analysis of predictive models, including Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks, was conducted to assess their accuracy in predicting urban temperature reductions. LSTM models were particularly focused on for their robustness and high predictive capability. The review identifies significant cooling contributions of trees, parks, and green roofs in urban settings through shading, evaporative cooling, and reduced heat absorption. Among the predictive models analyzed, LSTM networks achieved the highest accuracy with an R-squared (R2) value of 0.99, indicating their robustness in predicting vegetation impacts on urban temperatures. These findings highlight the importance of integrating vegetation in urban planning to mitigate the UHI effect, reduce heat stress, improve air quality, and enhance urban livability. This study uniquely applies LSTM networks to predict vegetation's impact on urban temperatures, achieving unprecedented accuracy.This approach provides valuable insights for urban planners and policymakers.