A Study of Urban Heat Island using “Local Climate Zones” – The Case of Singapore

Abstract

Aims: The stu dy of urban heat islands and traditionally relies on simplistic descriptors such as “urban” and “rural”. While these descriptors may be evocative of the landscape, they are insufficient in providing information like its site properties which have direct im pacts on the surface layer climate. The newly developed “Local Climate Zones” (LCZ) characterization sc heme from Oke and Stewart [ 1 ] was applied to three case study areas to provide a more objective assessment of the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon in S ingapore. Study Design: The three step procedure of site metadata collection, definition of the thermal source area, and selection of the appropriate climate zone was followed for the three case study areas representing green space, a typical high rise res idential housing area, and the CBD to identify and explain UHI characteristics.