Investigation of The Impacts of Urban Morphology On Summer-Time Urban Heat Island Using GIS And Field Measurement

This study investigates the relationships between urban morphology and summertime urban heat island in Hong Kong. A total of 33 urban design parameters describing complex high-rise high-density urban morphology are proposed and categorized into three groups, i.e., land-use intensity, built form, and space enclosure. A process combining the python script and the geoprocessing function is proposed to quickly calculate the morphological parameters for 10 sites and 160 points. Microclimate data were collected using onsite measurement equipment. Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression analysis are conducted to quantify the impact of each parameter on urban heat island (UHI) intensities at 3 pm (UHI_3pm) and 9 pm (UHI_9pm). 16 parameters are found to be statistically correlated with UHI_3pm and 9 parameters with UHI_9pm. Results show land-use intensity parameters have the highest correlation with UHI, followed by built form parameters and then space enclosure parameters. Furthermore, it is found that site-level parameters can better explain UHI variation compared to point-level parameters. This research paves the path for quickly extracting urban morphological parameters and enhances the understanding of the impact of complex high-rise high-density urban environment on summertime UHI. The results can inform policy makers with the guidelines to create more comfortable urban environment.