Urban Heat Island Effects in Global Cities: Balancing Rapid Urbanization, Land Surface Temperature Dynamics, and Sustainable Adaptation Strategies

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land–Climate Interactions".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 718

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1ER, UK
Interests: advanced remote sensing methodologies; machine-learning-based processing of satellite and aerial imagery; assessment of land use and land cover dynamics; analysis of land surface temperature and urban heat island effect

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Guest Editor
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Lensfield Road, Cambridge CB2 1ER, UK
Interests: spaceborne and UAV remote sensing for Arctic studies; hyperspectral imaging and ML-driven image analysis; mapping and monitoring Arctic land cover; assessing climate-driven changes in vegetated, glaciated, and built terrains; transdisciplinary Arctic land-use management and science diplomacy
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urban Heat Islands significantly influence urban environments worldwide, leading to increased temperatures compared to surrounding rural areas. Rapid urbanization, accompanied by extensive landuse and landcover changes, exacerbates Urban Heat Islands, impacting public health, environmental quality, and urban sustainability. As global cities continue to expand, understanding the dynamics of Land Surface Temperature becomes crucial for urban planners, environmental scientists, and policymakers to develop effective strategies to mitigate negative effects and ensure sustainable urban development. This research area has become increasingly important due to climate change and its amplified impacts in densely populated urban regions.

This Special Issue aims to collect papers (original research articles and review papers) to give insights into the complex relationships between rapid urbanization, Land Surface Temperature dynamics, and sustainable adaptation strategies within urban settings. In line with the focus of the journal Land, this Special Issue emphasizes interdisciplinary approaches in urban planning, environmental science, remote sensing, geoinformatics, and policy formulation to support sustainable urban development and climate change adaptation.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

  • Assessment and modelling of Urban Heat Island intensity using remote sensing and GIS techniques.
  • Evaluations of land use and land cover change impacts on land surface temperature and urban microclimates.
  • Sustainable urban design and planning strategies for mitigating Urban Heat Islands.
  • Integration of community participation and policy frameworks in adapting to increased urban temperatures.
  • Comparative case studies of Urban Heat Island across different geographic and climatic regions.
  • Review papers synthesizing current methodologies and approaches for assessing and mitigating Urban Heat Islands.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Liliia Hebryn Baidy
Prof. Dr. Gareth Rees
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • urban heat island
  • land surface temperature
  • urbanization
  • urban microclimate
  • land use/land cover change
  • remote sensing
  • geoinformatics
  • GIS modeling
  • sustainable adaptation strategies
  • climate change adaptation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 3245 KB  
Article
Exploring the Impact of Urban Characteristics on Diurnal Land Surface Temperature Based on LCZ and Machine Learning
by Xinyu Zhang and Jun Zhang
Land 2025, 14(9), 1813; https://doi.org/10.3390/land14091813 - 5 Sep 2025
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Abstract
The urban heat island (UHI) effect has become a critical environmental issue affecting urban livability and public health, attracting widespread attention from both academia and society. Although numerous studies have examined the influence of urban characteristics on land surface temperature (LST), most have [...] Read more.
The urban heat island (UHI) effect has become a critical environmental issue affecting urban livability and public health, attracting widespread attention from both academia and society. Although numerous studies have examined the influence of urban characteristics on land surface temperature (LST), most have been restricted to single variables or single time points, and the traditional “urban–rural dichotomy” approach fails to capture intra-urban thermal heterogeneity. To address this limitation, this study integrates the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) framework with machine learning techniques to systematically analyze the diurnal variation patterns of LST across different LCZ types in Beijing and explore the interactive effects of urban characteristic variables on LST. The results show the following: (1) Compact building zones (LCZ 1–3) exhibit significantly higher daytime LST than open building zones (LCZ 4–6), with reduced differences at night; high-rise buildings cool daytime surfaces through shading but increase nighttime LST due to heat storage. (2) Blue–green space variables, such as NDVI and tree coverage (TPLAND), substantially lower daytime LST through evapotranspiration, but their nighttime cooling effect is weak; cropland coverage (CPLAND) plays a particularly important role in lowering nighttime LST. (3) Blue–green space and urban form variables exhibit significant interaction effects on LST, with contrasting impacts between day and night. (4) Population activity variables are strongly correlated with increased LST, especially at night, when their warming effects are more prominent. This study reveals the relative importance and nonlinear relationships of different variables across diurnal cycles, providing a scientific basis for optimizing blue–green space configuration, improving urban morphology, regulating human activity, and formulating effective UHI mitigation strategies to support the development of more sustainable urban environments. Full article
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