EFFECTS OF GREENSPACE CONFIGURATION ON THE URBAN HEAT ISLAND: A STUDY OF THE KANSAS CITY METROPOLITAN AREA

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between greenspace pattern and UHIs we conducted a multi-resolution wavelet analysis of land surface temperature (LST) to determine the dominant length scales of LST. We used these scales as extents for calculating landscape metrics on a high-resolution landcover map. We built regression models to investigate whether, controlling for the percent vegetated area, patch size, fragmentation, shape, complexity, and/or proximity can mitigate UHIs. We found that more and complex patches of greenspace and dispersed rather than clustered greenspace can effectively mitigate UHIs. We also found that the negative relationship often reported between patch size and LST is an artifact of the relationship between increased percent vegetated and LST. By using the dominant length scales of LST we demonstrate that aggregation and shape complexity are important configuration factors to consider in designing urban greenspace and provide a methodology for robust biophysically-based analysis of urban landscape pattern.