Planning for cooler cities: A framework to support the selection of urban heat mitigation techniques

Abstract

Urban microclimate studies tend to use predefined scenarios with a limited combination of parameters to support decision-making about urban heat mitigation techniques (UHMTs). This limits the selection of appropriate techniques in practice, particularly as the real-world urban environments are highly diverse and complex. Therefore, a supportive framework is required to embed UHMTs in practical planning. This study presents a novel framework that is capable of identifying the optimal UHMT for a specific urban context. The framework can identify applicable UHMTs and their corresponding planning & design variables based on the urban context, select high impact variables by sensitivity analysis, and pinpoint the optimum combination by genetic algorithm. A case study of Leppington in Australia is conducted to demonstrate the usability and implementation of the proposed framework. The framework can not only provide high-performance UHMTs in a specific urban context, facilitating the governments’ decision-making and policy implementation for urban heat mitigation, but also be adapted by urban researchers to address other urban problems, supporting sustainable urban development.