The Impact of Urban Structure and Analysis Unit Scale on the Urban Heat Island Effect in the Old Urban Area of Taichung City

Keywords: Urban Heat Island, Urban Spatial Structure, Multi-Scale Analysis, Landsat
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract

Abstract

According to the latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), global warming exacerbates the urban heat island (UHI) effect, while urbanization amplifies climate risks. Mitigating UHI impacts and promoting sustainable urban development have thus become critical research priorities. Numerous international studies indicate that urban expansion and land-use changes intensify UHI conditions. In Taiwan, UHI research has also predominantly focused on analyzing relationships between two-dimensional land use, socioeconomic data, and land surface temperature. This study builds on these findings by examining the effects of both two- and three-dimensional urban structures on the UHI effect, while comparing the explanatory power of different data formats and spatial scales. It further aims to identify the multidimensional urban structure variables and data formats that are most effective for interpreting variations in land surface temperature.
This research focuses on Taichung City, a rapidly developing Taiwanese city with significant growth potential, specifically selecting the city’s original eight districts as the study area. Integrating a comprehensive array of variables, this study employs Landsat 8 satellite imagery from 2014 and 2022 to retrieve land surface temperature data, pinpointing areas of UHI change through hotspot analysis. Correlation and regression analyses are applied to determine the urban structure variables, data formats, and spatial scales that best explain land surface temperature, providing insights for future multi-scale UHI research.