Managing urban heat islands in Rajarhat-Newtown, India, with the help of greenery and waterscapes

•The efficacy of UHI mitigation strategies is tested in the Rajarhat Newtown area.•914 % of built-up and 6 °C of LST had risen during the last 33 years (1987–2020).•With the development of green and blue spaces, UHI has become fragmented.•Water bodies lower LST by 6 °C more efficiently than urban gr...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainable cities and society 2025-01, Vol.118, Article 106033
Main Authors: Mitra, Suman, Mondal, Mehebub, Biswas, Madhusree, Datta, Sampurna, Roy, Asit Kumar
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
LST
Rajarhat-Newtown
Sustainable UHI management
Urban coldspot
Urban green infrastructure
Urban waterscape
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Summary:•The efficacy of UHI mitigation strategies is tested in the Rajarhat Newtown area.•914 % of built-up and 6 °C of LST had risen during the last 33 years (1987–2020).•With the development of green and blue spaces, UHI has become fragmented.•Water bodies lower LST by 6 °C more efficiently than urban greeneries. This study aims to fill the research gap by assessing the efficacy of urban blue-green infrastructure in reducing the impacts of Urban Heat Island (UHI) over the newly developed satellite township of Kolkata in the Rajarhat Area. In that process, land-use transformation mapping for the last 40 years (1987–2020) is executed and correlated with LST dynamics. Afterwards, the UHI is mapped, and the Local Indicators of Spatial Autocorrelation (LISA) is measured to determine the spatial association of urban hot and coldspots. Results show that between 1987 and 2020, nearly 914 % (11.35 km2) of the built-up Area was increased. Accordingly, the mean LST of the entire Area increased by 6 °C. Increased temperature has led to the development of UHI patches over bare and impervious areas until new urban green spaces and water features started functioning as coldspots, cooler by 4 °C - 6 °C than their adjacent hotspots. The efficacy of urban water bodies in mitigating UHI is observed significant compared to vegetation; water bodies dipped the LST by 1.5 °C - 2 °C more than vegetated areas. UHI management techniques are rarely evaluated in developing countries; urban managers should incorporate these findings into their future planning to mitigate urban thermal discomfort.
ISSN:2210-6707
DOI:10.1016/j.scs.2024.106033