Parks, trees and other greenery as the most efficient air conditioning, cleaning and healing power in the urban environment

Urban greenery is able to maximize the utilization of incoming solar energy to alleviate temperature extremes in the city. On hot summer days, when the temperature on the sunlit concrete pavement rises to 50 ° C, the tree can maintain the temperature at a pleasant 26-28 °C in its shade (see twin picture). In the article, the reader learns how and by which processes the greenery cools and also warms in a cold environment. In addition, greenery effectively cleans human-polluted urban air, produces the biomass necessary for life and performs a range of other ecosystem functions and services. The article connects the physical basis of solar energy conversion and physiological processes in plants. It demonstrates the possibilities of quantification of these vital ecosystem functions and services, presents examples of the use of different types of thermal data for the evaluation of urban greenery and offers the possibility of their use in spatial planning and decision-making.

P. Hesslerová, J. Pokorný, H. Huryna, J. Seják, V. Jirka, The impacts of greenery on urban climate and the options for use of thermal data in urban areas. Progress in Planning (2021) in press.

link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900621000027?via%3Dihub