Local and regional climate regulation

Description

When discussing land use planning in general and urban planning in particular in the future, the adaptation to climate change and urban heat island effects (the average background temperature in urban areas is often 0.5 to 1.5°C higher than in nearby rural areas) needs to taken into account increasingly. Green infrastructure has an important potential due to its positive microclimate effects, on the one hand as a source of cooling in densely populated cities on hot (summer) days and on the other hand with a possible reduction of heat losses on cold (winter) days (Akbari et al. 2001; EPA 1992; Methay et al. 2011; Shashua-Bar & Hoffmann 2000).

Vegetation in an urban context can significantly improve the microclimate thanks to 3 mechanisms: (1) limiting incident solar radiation on warm (summer) days; (2) through evapotranspiration of vegetation: evaporation requires energy and leads to lower summer temperatures; (3) by acting as a wind stopper, resulting in fewer heat losses on cold (winter) days. Due to the impact on ventilation in an urban environment, air quality can deteriorate locally in specific cases (in street canyons) (De Maerschalck et al. 2011).

Recent empirical research in Dutch cities shows that more vegetation in the city can slow down the “urban heat island effect” (Steeneveld et al. 2011; De Ridder et al. 2015).

This ecosystem service is included in the urban version of the tool.