A comparative study of land development patterns and regional thermal environments (RTEs) in typical urban agglomerations of China and America: A case study of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Boswash

Zhicheng Shen; Xinliang Xu; Shuwan Xu; Daowei Sun

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149735

A comparative study of land development patterns and regional thermal environments (RTEs) in typical urban agglomerations of China and America: A case study of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Boswash

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Jan 10:803:149735. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149735. Epub 2021 Aug 19.

Authors

Zhicheng Shen¹, Xinliang Xu², Shuwan Xu³, Daowei Sun⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information Systems, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China. Electronic address: xuxl@lreis.ac.cn.
³ Tongzhou Campus, The High School Affiliated with Renmin University of China, Beijing, China.
⁴ Australian Cotton Research Institute, NSW Department of Primary Industries, Narrabri, NSW 2390, Australia.

PMID: 34492490
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.149735

Abstract

Currently, most regional thermal environment (RTE) studies in urban agglomerations focus on developing countries, especially China. However, there is still a lack of comparative studies on the RTEs of urban agglomerations between China and other developed countries, such as the United States. This paper used the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) agglomeration in China and Boswash (the highly urbanized area extending from Boston to Washington) in the United States as examples to investigate the differences in land development patterns, RTEs and their relationship between the agglomerations of China and America. The results showed that the land development patterns of BTH and Boswash were different, as evidenced by the spatial pattern of land development intensity (LDI) and impervious surface configuration. In terms of the RTE, the sub-high land surface temperature (LST) zones were aggregated in a large and compact patch in central and northern BTH. However, the sub-high zones of the cities in Boswash were relatively separate. Moreover, the land development pattern of Boswash showed a stronger relationship with the RTE than that of BTH did. Global Moran's I between the LDI and LST in Boswash was higher than that in BTH. In addition, the correlation between impervious surface configuration and LST in Boswash was stronger than that in BTH, and this correlation was more controlled by LDI in Boswash. This study also indicated that BTH should change the land development pattern to prevent the further expansion of aggregated sub-high LST zones and control the proximity of high LST zones in cities in central and southern BTH, however, Boswash should adopt some local heat management approaches (installing cool and green roofs and creating more green space) in the core areas to help reduce the very high temperatures in the already highly developed areas where the largest fraction of people live.

Keywords: Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) agglomeration; Boswash; Land development pattern; Regional thermal environment (RTE).

MeSH terms

Beijing
Boston
China
Cities
Environmental Monitoring*
Humans
Washington