Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
4.6
2.5
Journals
Forests
Special Issues
Designing Urban Green Spaces in a Changing Climate
share announcement

Designing Urban Green Spaces in a Changing Climate

A special issue of Forests (ISSN 1999-4907). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Forestry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 March 2025) | Viewed by 7141

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Bau-Show Lin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Interests: ecosystem assessment and mapping; landscape planning and design; landscape ecology; greenland system and green infrastructure; green roof design and benefit assessment; recreation supply and demand
Dr. Cheng-I Hsieh

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Bioenvironmental Systems Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
Interests: micrometeorology and sustainability with emphases on: (1) developing theoretical bases of boundary layer processes for the design of green roof, green building, and urban thermal environment; (2) greenhouse gases emissions from natural, urban, and agricultural ecosystems; micrometeorology; land-atmosphere interactions; sustainable design

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urban green spaces play a crucial role in enhancing resilience and sustainability in the face of climate change. This Special Issue aims to explore innovative approaches and practical strategies for designing and managing urban green spaces to meet the challenges of a changing climate. We invite original research papers, case studies, and policy analyses that address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Nature-based solutions—integrating natural processes and biodiversity into urban planning to mitigate and adapt to climate change impacts;
  • Green infrastructure—designing and implementing green infrastructure to provide multiple benefits, such as stormwater management, heat island mitigation, and biodiversity enhancement;
  • Ecosystem services—assessing and quantifying the ecosystem services provided by urban green spaces;
  • Net-zero emissions—strategies for achieving net-zero carbon emissions through urban forest management, green building practices, and open space greening;
  • Good health and well-being—exploring the links between access to quality green spaces and improved public health outcomes;
  • Sustainable environment—evaluating the environmental sustainability of urban green space designs;
  • Environmental justice—exploring the equity and inclusivity of urban green space planning and design.

Prof. Dr. Bau-Show Lin
Dr. Cheng-I Hsieh
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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Forests 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 2600 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

  • nature-based solutions
  • green infrastructure
  • ecosystem services
  • net-zero emissions
  • good health and well-being
  • sustainable environment
  • environmental justice

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

27 pages, 12277 KB  
Article
Quantifying Landscape Effects on Urban Park Thermal Environments Using ENVI-Met and 3D Grid Profile Analysis
by Dongyang Yan, Liang Xu, Qifan Wang, Jing Feng and Xixi Wu
Forests 2025, 16(7), 1085; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16071085 - 30 Jun 2025
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1815
Abstract
Blue–green infrastructure is widely recognized for mitigating the urban heat island effect. However, most existing ENVI-met 5.6.1 studies focus on average thermal conditions and overlook fine-scale spatial gradients. This study investigates the urban park in Luoyang City by integrating high-resolution 3D ENVI-met simulations, [...] Read more.
Blue–green infrastructure is widely recognized for mitigating the urban heat island effect. However, most existing ENVI-met 5.6.1 studies focus on average thermal conditions and overlook fine-scale spatial gradients. This study investigates the urban park in Luoyang City by integrating high-resolution 3D ENVI-met simulations, multi-source data, and field measurements to quantify thermal gradients between park interiors and surrounding built-up areas. A midline cut-off approach was applied to extract horizontal and vertical thermal profiles. The results show that (1) temperature and physiological equivalent temperature (PET) differences are most pronounced at park edges and transition zones, where vegetation and water bodies serve as natural cooling buffers; (2) urban form indicators, especially the building coverage and open space ratio, significantly impact wind speed and the PET, with greenery improving thermal comfort via shading and evapotranspiration, while impervious surfaces intensify heat stress; (3) the park exhibits a distinct cold island effect, with the average PET in the core area up to 12.3 °C lower than in adjacent built-up zones. The effective cooling distance, which is identified through buffer-based zonal statistics, rapidly attenuates within approximately 200 m from the park boundary. These findings offer a novel spatial perspective on thermal regulation mechanisms of urban landscapes and provide quantitative evidence to guide the design of climate-resilient green infrastructure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Designing Urban Green Spaces in a Changing Climate)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 4527 KB  
Article
Optimizing Urban Green Spaces for Vegetation-Based Carbon Sequestration: The Role of Landscape Spatial Structure in Zhengzhou Parks, China
by Chenyu Du, Shidong Ge, Peihao Song, Sándor Jombach, Albert Fekete and István Valánszki
Forests 2025, 16(4), 679; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16040679 - 13 Apr 2025
Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2589
Abstract
Urban parks serve as essential carbon sinks in cities, mitigating climate change by sequestering atmospheric CO2. Maximizing the carbon sequestration potential within constrained urban spaces is a critical step toward carbon neutrality. However, few studies have systematically examined how the internal [...] Read more.
Urban parks serve as essential carbon sinks in cities, mitigating climate change by sequestering atmospheric CO2. Maximizing the carbon sequestration potential within constrained urban spaces is a critical step toward carbon neutrality. However, few studies have systematically examined how the internal spatial composition and shape of green spaces affect their vegetation carbon sequestration capacity. This study analyzes the relationship between landscape indices and vegetation carbon sequestration density (VCSD) using field surveys and high-resolution remote sensing data from 123 urban parks in Zhengzhou, China. The results indicate that Zhengzhou’s parks sequester 14.03 Gg C yr−1, with a VCSD of 0.53 kg C m−2 yr−1. Significant differences in VCSD were observed among park types, with theme parks having the highest average VCSD (0.69 kg C m−2 yr−1) and community parks the lowest (0.43 kg C m−2 yr−1). The key drivers primarily consist of landscape indices that characterize green space distribution and configuration, including the proportion of green space (Pg), largest green patch index (LPI), number of green patches (NP), green patch dispersion index (SPL), and landscape shape index (LSI), with specific thresholds identified for each. Based on these findings, category-specific spatial composition strategies are proposed to precisely enhance the carbon sequestration of park vegetation. This study provides actionable guidance for urban park designers to maximize the carbon sequestration potential of green spaces, thereby mitigating climate change and promoting human health and well-being through green space design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Designing Urban Green Spaces in a Changing Climate)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

29 pages, 27917 KB  
Article
The Scale-Dependent Differences in Cooling Efficiency of UGS in Different Functional Areas: A Case Study of Xi’an, China
by Zhaoyang Yan, Tianji Wu, Le Xuan, Wenru Li, Xuhui Wang, Ludi Dong, Kanhua Yu and Yong Wang
Forests 2024, 15(11), 1946; https://doi.org/10.3390/f15111946 - 5 Nov 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1999
Abstract
Urban green spaces (UGS) play a critical role in mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) effect and addressing climate change challenges through their cooling effects. Expanding green space and optimizing its layout are key strategies in urban planning. However, with limited land resources, [...] Read more.
Urban green spaces (UGS) play a critical role in mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) effect and addressing climate change challenges through their cooling effects. Expanding green space and optimizing its layout are key strategies in urban planning. However, with limited land resources, maximizing cooling efficiency becomes crucial. While previous studies have yet to reach a consensus on the optimal UGS size threshold for achieving maximum cooling efficiency, this study employs high-resolution remote sensing imagery to extract 25,594 UGS patches in Xi’an and explores the scale dependency of UGS cooling effects. Results show that 54.20% of the patches exhibit a “cooling island effect”, reducing surface temperatures by 0.10 ± 0.13 °C to 1.66 ± 1.15 °C. A nonlinear relationship was observed between cooling intensity and UGS size, influenced by vegetation coverage and edge complexity. Further analysis reveals that medium-sized UGS have the highest cooling efficiency. These UGS were categorized into five functional zones to explore the dominant factors affecting cooling efficiency in each zone, and corresponding strategies for improvement were proposed. These findings provide insights into optimizing UGS layout and refining the cooling efficiency thresholds. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Designing Urban Green Spaces in a Changing Climate)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-3
Back to TopTop