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Atmosphere
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The Role of Urban Vegetation Management and Planning in Climate...
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The Role of Urban Vegetation Management and Planning in Climate Change Adaptation Strategies

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Biometeorology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 September 2021) | Viewed by 11014

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Elisa Gatto

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie Biologiche ed Ambientali, University of Salento, 73100 Lecce, Italy
Interests: urban planning; green space; urban vegetation; ENVI-met; thermal comfort; urban microclimate
Prof. Dr. Rohinton Emmanuel

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
BEAM Research Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow G4 0BA, UK
Interests: urban heat islands; thermal comfort in the outdoors; climate change and microclimate; sustainable cities; carbon management in the built environment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Contemporary global climate change, which threatens the functioning and the equilibrium of ecosystems, societies and economies, makes it imperative to establish adaptation strategies in order to lessen the negative impacts on natural and human systems. As widely confirmed in the scientific literature, urban vegetation provides several ecosystem services improving human health and well-being in the cities. In particular, it acts as a climate regulator through evapotranspiration leading to a reduction of the air temperature and consequently of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomen and contributes to the reduction of pollutants through the deposition and absorption. However, the planning and management of urban vegetation cannot ignore that climate change is exposing plants to a range of biotic and abiotic stresses that affects all stages of development and their ecological role.

The aim of this Special Issue is to contribute to (i) an improved understanding of urban vegetation sensitivity and responses to climate change in order to (ii) develop planning and management strategies aimed at improving its positive effects and thus urban resilience.

In this perspective, the main interesting topics of this issue include (not an exhaustive list):

  • Urban vegetation (phenological and physiological) responses to climate change;
  • The effects of air temperature, air pollution and extreme weather events on urban vegetation and how this influences management and planning choices;
  • Climate change adaptation strategies through vegetation assessed through a modelling approach and in situ observations;
  • Smart informatics tools to guide urban vegetation planning and management.

Dr. Elisa Gatto
Prof. Dr. Rohinton Emmanuel
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • urban vegetation
  • climate change
  • air quality
  • atmospheric modelling
  • urban planning
  • ecosystem services
  • plant responses

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 2912 KiB  
Article
Sustainability as a Function of an Area: Application of Multi-Criteria Evaluation in Assessing the Effectiveness of Nature-Based Solutions
by Ewa Podhajska, Ewa Burszta-Adamiak, Anetta Drzeniecka-Osiadacz, Magdalena Zienowicz, Bronisław Podhajski, Tymoteusz Sawiński and Agnieszka Jasińska
Atmosphere 2021, 12(11), 1464; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12111464 - 05 Nov 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2011
Abstract
One of the essential factors influencing the overall urban experience is the presence of biologically active surfaces. Despite widespread awareness of the beneficial effects of such spaces, the natural tissue in cities is still being significantly limited by the priority given to functionality [...] Read more.
One of the essential factors influencing the overall urban experience is the presence of biologically active surfaces. Despite widespread awareness of the beneficial effects of such spaces, the natural tissue in cities is still being significantly limited by the priority given to functionality and the economy. The aim of this article is to assess the potential of using a hybrid infrastructure in the grey–green–blue system (GGB) on a public site. In order to assess the efficiency of the implemented solutions, a multi-criteria method was developed, thereby recognising this research aspect as necessary in the process of designing urban built-up spaces. The assessment compared indicators of biological activity in the area using the biotope area factor and green space factor scales. The rainwater retention potential was estimated using a quantitative method. The change in the site’s thermal conditions was analysed by conducting numerous experiments with the use of micrometeorogical computational fluid dynamics models ENVI-met. The demonstrated improvement in the proportion of the biologically active area, water retention, and thermal conditions, ranging from a few to a dozen percent compared to the initial state, confirms the legitimacy of using grey–green–blue infrastructure systems as a method of shaping a sustainable and climate-responsive urban design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Urban Vegetation Management and Planning in Climate Change Adaptation Strategies)
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17 pages, 3307 KiB  
Article
Quantifying the Potential Contribution of Urban Forest to PM2.5 Removal in the City of Shanghai, China
by Biao Zhang, Zixia Xie, Xinlu She and Jixi Gao
Atmosphere 2021, 12(9), 1171; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12091171 - 12 Sep 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2740
Abstract
Climate change and air pollution pose multiple health threats to humans through complex and interacting pathways, whereas urban vegetation can improve air quality by influencing pollutant deposition and dispersion. This study estimated the amount of PM2.5 removal by the urban forest in [...] Read more.
Climate change and air pollution pose multiple health threats to humans through complex and interacting pathways, whereas urban vegetation can improve air quality by influencing pollutant deposition and dispersion. This study estimated the amount of PM2.5 removal by the urban forest in the city of Shanghai by using remote sensing data of vegetation and a model approach. We also identified its potential contribution of urban forest presence in relation to human population and particulate matter concentration. Results show that the urban forest in Shanghai reached 46,161 ha in 2017, and could capture 874 t of PM2.5 with an average of 18.94 kg/ha. There are significant spatial heterogeneities in the role of different forest communities and administrative districts in removing PM2.5. Although PM2.5 removal was relatively harmonized with the human population distribution in terms of space, approximately 57.41% of the urban forest presented low coupling between removal capacity and PM2.5 concentration. Therefore, we propose to plant more trees with high removal capacity of PM2.5 in the western areas of Shanghai, and increase vertical planting in bridge pillars and building walls to compensate the insufficient amount of urban forest in the center area. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Urban Vegetation Management and Planning in Climate Change Adaptation Strategies)
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21 pages, 11480 KiB  
Article
Experimental Analysis of the Influence of Urban Morphological Indices on the Urban Thermal Environment of Zhengzhou, China
by Xuefan Zhou and Hong Chen
Atmosphere 2021, 12(8), 1058; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12081058 - 18 Aug 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2248
Abstract
Summer extreme high-temperatures occur frequently in large cities; urban spatial form is the primary factor affecting the urban thermal environment. Thus, planning and arranging urban spaces is a key approach to regulating urban microclimates. Studies into how urban spatial forms influence the formation [...] Read more.
Summer extreme high-temperatures occur frequently in large cities; urban spatial form is the primary factor affecting the urban thermal environment. Thus, planning and arranging urban spaces is a key approach to regulating urban microclimates. Studies into how urban spatial forms influence the formation of urban microclimates have been carried out for multiple cities in warm and hot regions; however, few studies of this kind have been carried out for cities in cold regions. In this study, we analyze Zhengzhou, a city located in a cold region of China, using summer 2017 measurement data to determine why high temperatures develop in cold areas. We investigated how temperature and humidity vary during the morning, at noon, and in the evening given different land use properties (commercial and residential) and different spatial forms (building height, building density, green coverage rate, and plot ratio); we then studied the correlation between urban spatial form and the urban thermal environment. Our research results indicate that the commercial district’s thermal microclimate was related to PR and BH in the afternoon and GCR in the morning and at night. In the residential district, the key urban morphology factors related to its thermal microclimates were BD, PR, and GCR during almost the whole day. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Urban Vegetation Management and Planning in Climate Change Adaptation Strategies)
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19 pages, 4601 KiB  
Article
Effectiveness of Tree Pattern in Street Canyons on Thermal Conditions and Human Comfort. Assessment of an Urban Renewal Project in Historical District in Lodz (Poland)
by Anna Dominika Bochenek and Katarzyna Klemm
Atmosphere 2021, 12(6), 751; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12060751 - 10 Jun 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 2842
Abstract
The implementation of adaptation strategies has become an essential activity of spatial planning departments. Passive technologies related to the introduction of natural components in the form of vegetation are used, especially in urban development plans, to mitigate the effects of climate change and [...] Read more.
The implementation of adaptation strategies has become an essential activity of spatial planning departments. Passive technologies related to the introduction of natural components in the form of vegetation are used, especially in urban development plans, to mitigate the effects of climate change and thus improve the quality of citizen life. Nature-Based Solutions are of particular importance in the areas of strict city centers, where historical building structures are subject to legal protection. In this study, the authors tested the influence of high greenery on the microclimatic conditions in the areas of typical street canyons (east–west and north–south orientations). Authors included the established greenery strategy by the City Planning Department. To estimate the impact of the assumed scenarios, a CFD tool was used—the ENVI-met application, which is commonly used in the field of urban microclimatology. Studies have shown that the introduction of 10% of green area contributed to a maximum air temperature reduction of 0.80 °C (17:00) in an east–west-oriented canyon, 0.49 °C (10:00) in a north–south canyon. The scenarios, assumed by the City Planning Department, related to the introduction of a greater amount of greenery turned out to be a less effective solution. The impact of greenery on the thermal comfort felt by humans was also determined. The reduction in the PET index was a maximum of 10.80 °C (14:00) in an east–west canyon; 6.66 °C (14:00) in a canyon area with a north–south orientation. This research might constitute the foundations to a re-evaluation of the urban development plans. The outcomes can lead to taking alternative direction of city layout transformations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Urban Vegetation Management and Planning in Climate Change Adaptation Strategies)
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