Abstract

We utilized city-scale simulations to quantitatively compare the diverse urban overheating mitigation strategies, specifically tied to social vulnerability and their cooling efficacies during heatwaves. We enhanced the Weather Research and Forecasting model to encompass the urban tree effect and calculate the Universal Thermal Climate Index for assessing thermal comfort. Taking Houston, Texas, and United States as an example, the study reveals that equitably mitigating urban overheat is achievable by considering the city's demographic composition and physical structure. the study results show that while urban trees may yield less cooling impact (0.27 K of Universal Thermal Climate Index in daytime) relative to cool roofs (0.30 K), the urban trees strategy can emerge as an effective approach for enhancing community resilience in heat stress-related outcomes. Social vulnerability-Based heat mitigation was reviewed as vulnerability-weighted daily cumulative heat stress change. the results underscore: (i) importance of considering the community resilience when evaluating heat mitigation impact and (ii) the need to assess planting spaces for urban trees, rooftop areas, and neighborhood vulnerability when designing community-oriented urban overheating mitigation strategies.

Department(s)

Biological Sciences

Publication Status

Open Access

Comments

University of Texas at Austin, Grant 80NSSC22K1675

Keywords and Phrases

heat waves; social vulnerability; urban overheat mitigation; urban trees; Weather Research and Forecasting model

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

2752-6542

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Final Version

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2025 Oxford University Press; National Academy of Sciences, All rights reserved.

Creative Commons Licensing

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Publication Date

01 Sep 2024

Included in

Biology Commons

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