Direct and indirect impacts of nature-based solutions on urban heating

• Autor(a) principal: Augusto, Bruno Miguel Rocha
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10773/24860
• topic: Nature-based solutions; Urban heat; Urban sprawl; Modelling

Cities are growing and becoming more densely populated. This results in changes in land use, where there is an increase in impermeable surfaces and a substantial loss of green spaces. These changes in the urban environment alter the ecology of the cities, which can cause effects such as urban heat islands and overall urban heating. While nature-based solutions (NBS) are considered sustainable, cost-effective and multi-purpose solutions to address these problems, NBS may also lead to urban compaction and increase in population density. The main objective of this study is to provide an assessment of the direct (short term) and indirect (medium to long term) impacts of nature-based solutions on urban heating and urban sprawl, having as a case study the city of Eindhoven (The Netherlands). The aim is to provide public planners, decision makers and stakeholders with a tool to help predict the effects of the applications of naturebased solutions. For this purpose, an integrated modelling approach composed of WRF-SUEWS (with a resolution of 1-km) and SULD was used to determine the urban cooling effect (direct impacts) and the urban compaction effect (indirect impacts), respectively. Results show that nature-based solutions have a cooling effect in the short term, due to an increase in green/blue spaces, and an urban compaction effect in the medium to long term, due to attraction of residents from peripheral areas to attractive green/blue spaces. The latter reduces the direct urban cooling effect, though still results in an overall positive balance. This study provides evidence that nature-based solutions can be used to reduce the effects of urban heating and urban sprawl, depending on the type and size of the nature-based solution. Also, it reinforces the idea that an integrated modelling approach allows to better understand the short to long term effects of NBS and can be used as tool for public planners and decision makers.