Green areas and lower building density cool down climate conditions locally, but the effect of global warming is even stronger

The built environment and green areas affect local climate conditions in the urban environment. They cool down the climate conditions locally, but not as largely as the global warming increases the temperatures.

Photo: Shutterstock/Ekaterina Kondratova

According to the study, an increase in green areas and a lower building density will cool the climate conditions locally and increase humidity and wind. However, global warming has a stronger impact on local conditions than changes in the urban environment.

The results can be utilised when making decisions related to changes in the structure of a city and adapting to the changing climate in cities. The test year describing the climate has been built on the basis of observations made in Vantaa, but these results also apply to other cities of the same size in a similar climate.

More information:

Researcher Olli Saranko, tel. 050 5299520, olli.saranko@fmi.fi

Olli Saranko, Carl Fortelius, Kirsti Jylhä, Kimmo Ruosteenoja, Erika Brattich, Silvana Di Sabatino, Väinö Nurmi. 2020. Impacts of town characteristics on the changing urban climate in Vantaa, Science of The Total Environment, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.138471

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