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Remote Sensing
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Monitoring Urban Thermal Environments and Landscapes Through Remote Sensing
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Monitoring Urban Thermal Environments and Landscapes Through Remote Sensing

A special issue of Remote Sensing (ISSN 2072-4292). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Remote Sensing".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1300

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ruci Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Center for Environmental Remote Sensing, Chiba University, Chiba-shi, Japan
2. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
Interests: sustainable development; land-use policy; spatial analysis; environment protection; remote sensing; land-use modelling
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Hao Hou

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Remote Sensing and Earth Sciences, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China
Interests: urban studies; urban sustainability; urban heat island; landscape patterns; sustainable development; urban volume
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Yuji Murayama

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan
Interests: human geography; GIScience; geospatial analysis; spatial modeling; urban geography
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Urbanization has significantly transformed urban landscapes. The shift from natural environments to human-made structures has had a profound impact on the urban thermal environment, resulting in the well-known urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. The effects of UHI have been amplified by global warming, particularly during summer seasons, leading to adverse consequences for energy consumption and human health. Given this situation, it is essential to monitor, predict and model the urban thermal environment to support sustainable urban development. Various practices have been employed, such as rearranging landscape patterns, developing new construction materials, and implementing green roofs, to mitigate the increasing UHI phenomenon. Nevertheless, these practical experiences have not been systematically discussed, and regional differences have brought about uncertainties in their direct application. Therefore, there is a demand for new techniques and perspectives in urban planning to alleviate UHI and create livable cities, particularly in rapidly growing urban areas.

This Special Issue concentrates on newly released remote sensing data, techniques, and practical solutions for monitoring and improving the urban thermal environment. Case studies of long-time and large-scale monitoring, three-dimensional analysis, and policy-related discussion are also welcome. Authors are encouraged to show new techniques for depicting the spatial patterns of temperature or new findings for revealing the mechanism of UHI formation. Articles may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:

  • Landscape composition and configuration;
  • Multi-city studies on urban thermal environment;
  • Surface urban heat island intensity;
  • Sustainable urban development;
  • Three-dimensional landscape analysis;
  • Cooling efficiency and scale of urban landscape;
  • New two-dimensional and three-dimensional landscape indicators;
  • Strategies for allocating green and blue resources in urban area.

Dr. Ruci Wang
Dr. Hao Hou
Prof. Dr. Yuji Murayama
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. Remote Sensing is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • land surface temperature
  • urban climate
  • scenario simulation
  • sustainable development
  • machine learning
  • cooling effect and scale
  • future prediction
  • landscape modeling

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

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

33 pages, 12632 KiB  
Article
Analysis of LULC and Urban Thermal Variations in Industrial Cities Using Earth Observation Indices and Machine Learning: A Case Study of Gujranwala, Pakistan
by Zabih Ullah, Muhammad Sajid Mehmood, Shiyan Zhai and Yaochen Qin
Remote Sens. 2025, 17(14), 2474; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17142474 - 16 Jul 2025
Viewed by 256
Abstract
Rapid urbanization and industrial development have significantly altered land use and cover across the globe, intensifying urban thermal environments and exacerbating the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Gujranwala, Pakistan, represents an industrial growth that has driven substantial land use/land cover (LULC) changes and [...] Read more.
Rapid urbanization and industrial development have significantly altered land use and cover across the globe, intensifying urban thermal environments and exacerbating the urban heat island (UHI) effect. Gujranwala, Pakistan, represents an industrial growth that has driven substantial land use/land cover (LULC) changes and temperature increases; however, the directional and distance-based patterns of these changes remain unquantified. Therefore, this study is conducted to examine spatiotemporal changes in LULC and variations in the Urban Thermal Field Variation Index (UTFVI) between 2001 and 2021 and to project future scenarios for 2031 and 2041 using (1) Earth Observation Indices (EOIs) with machine learning (ML) classifiers (Random Forest) for precise LULC mapping through the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, (2) Cellular Automata–Artificial Neural Networks (CA-ANNs) for future scenario projection, and (3) Gradient Directional Analysis (GDA) to quantify directional (16-axis) and distance-based (concentric zones) patterns of urban expansion and thermal variation from 2001–2021. The study revealed significant LULC changes, with built-up areas expanding by 7.5% from 2001 to 2021, especially in the east, northeast, and southeast directions within a 20 km radius. Due to urban encroachment, vegetation and cropland decreased by 1.47% and 1.83%, respectively. The urban thermal environment worsened, with the highest land surface temperature (LST) rising from 41 °C in 2001 to 55 °C in 2021. Additionally, the UTFVI showed expanding areas under the ‘strong’ and ‘strongest’ categories, increasing from 30.58% in 2001 to 33.42% in 2041. Directional analysis highlighted severe thermal stress in the southern and southwestern areas linked to industrial activities and urban sprawl. This integrated approach provides a template for analyzing urban thermal environments in developing cities, supporting targeted mitigation strategies through direction- and distance-specific planning interventions to mitigate UHI impacts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring Urban Thermal Environments and Landscapes Through Remote Sensing)
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17 pages, 2995 KiB  
Article
Environmental Influence on NbS (Nature-Based Solution) Mitigation of Diurnal Surface Urban Heat Islands (SUHI)
by Chih-chen Liu, Min-cheng Tu, Jen-yang Lin, Hongyuan Huo and Wei-jen Chen
Remote Sens. 2025, 17(10), 1802; https://doi.org/10.3390/rs17101802 - 21 May 2025
Viewed by 532
Abstract
Utilizing 58 Landsat-7 images taken over 10 years, the current study investigated the relationship between the mitigation of surface urban heat islands (SUHIs) by NbSs (Nature-based Solutions) and influential variables such as physical variables of NbSs, environmental variables of the streets, and meteorological [...] Read more.
Utilizing 58 Landsat-7 images taken over 10 years, the current study investigated the relationship between the mitigation of surface urban heat islands (SUHIs) by NbSs (Nature-based Solutions) and influential variables such as physical variables of NbSs, environmental variables of the streets, and meteorological variables. Parks and permeable pavements are the two types of NbS devices under examination. Reference (i.e., unaffected by any NbS) and experimental (i.e., affected by only one NbS) areas were selected to perform the analysis. Areas affected by large water bodies or more than one NbS device were excluded. The cooling effect caused by NbS was linked to the influential variables by multiple regression models. Key findings included the following: Firstly, the distance to an NbS is more important than the area of an individual NbS, implying that small and evenly distributed NbS devices might have better overall cooling effects than large but sparsely placed NbS devices. Secondly, NbSs do not significantly contribute to cooling in districts with grid-type streets, while exhibiting significant cooling for districts with complex street patterns. Older districts with complex street patterns should be the focus of NbS implementation, not newer, modern districts. However, NbS cooling is sensitive to several variables in districts with complex patterns. NbS installation in those districts requires careful planning to maximize engineering investment. Lastly, maintenance can be essential to sustain the cooling capacity of NbSs over time. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Monitoring Urban Thermal Environments and Landscapes Through Remote Sensing)
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