Estimating the cooling capacity of green infrastructures to support urban planning

•Components that mainly determine the cooling capacity of a GUI are: tree canopy coverage, soil cover, and size.•The best combination of components is the one considering that generally the most important component is size, followed by tree canopy coverage and soil cover.•The application to the case-study shows that our approach works with limited and easy to collect input-data and is able differentiate among the cooling capacity provided by different types of GUI.

Heatwaves are threatening human wellbeing in our cities, but Green Urban Infrastructures (GUI) can contribute to reduce temperatures and the associated health risks, by virtue of their cooling capacity. GUI present different typologies and consequently different key components, such as soil cover, tree canopy cover and shape, which determines their capacity to provide cooling. The aim of this study is to propose an approach to estimate the cooling capacity provided by GUI in order to generate useful information for urban planners. The methods are based on the review of the literature to identify the functions of GUI that are involved in providing cooling, and the components of GUI that determine those functions, and then to combine them to provide an overall assessment of the cooling capacity. The approach was used to assess 50 different typologies of GUI, which are result of different combinations of the components that influence the cooling, for three climatic regions. An illustrative case study in the city of Amsterdam show the applicability of the approach. This work provides a contribution in the panorama of Ecosystem Service assessment tools to support the mainstreaming of Ecosystem-based measures (such as the creation of GUI) in the planning practice.

Graphical abstractDownload high-res image (57KB)Download full-size image