Parks may not be effective enough to improve the thermal environment in Shanghai (China) as our modified H3SFCA method suggests

Abstract

Anthropogenic warming and rapid urbanization have exacerbated the deterioration of urban thermal environments, increasing interest in the ability of parks to regulate local climates. However, their potential to mitigate local thermal discomfort and spatial mismatch in supply and demand is poorly understood. We 1) examined the cooling effects of Shanghai's parks via a thermal comfort index, 2) identified the role of parks in improving local thermal environments by comparing thermal discomfort and park cooling capacity, and 3) explored the spatial mismatch between the demand for thermal discomfort mitigation and the supply of park cooling based on multiple park accessibility. The extent of park cooling is inversely related to the level of urbanization, while cooling intensity is positively associated with urbanization. Only 20.65% of the parks effectively mitigate local thermal discomfort, highlighting the need for improvements. Cooling accessibility increases from the city center to the periphery, with 22.70% of areas lacking access to park cooling services within a 15-min radius. Further improvements can enhance the thermal comfort of accessible parks by 49.55%. Priority adaptation is required in old urban areas and key development zones in peripheral urban areas to meet the needs of their large populations. Our study contributes to the study of urban thermal discomfort mitigation via parks in the context of climate adaptation planning.