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Urban Design: Battery City Park, Manhattan, NewYork

Isolated and self-contained, the Battery City Park is an amalgamation of downtown’s rich history and envisioned future. It offers the perfect mix of commercial, residential and open space and is the fastest growing community in the lower Manhattan area.

The Urban Design Case Study Archive is a project of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design developed collaboratively between faculty, students, developers, and professional library staff. Specifically, it is an ongoing collaboration between the GSD’s Department of Urban Planning and Design and the Frances Loeb Library. This project received funding from the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for its development and was originally envisioned by professors Peter Rowe and Rahul Mehrotra.

As a collection of case studies, the project aims to support the study of the built environment in urban areas through a rich data model for urban design projects and their related descriptions, interpretations, drawings, and images. It makes use of excellent data entry tools that support the sophisticated search and visualization needed to support its pedagogical aims and scholarly research. Each case study includes digital photographs of the urban context, the projects themselves, and other graphic representation such as site plans, sections, and elevations, as well as texts, commentary, articles, analyses, bibliographies, people involved and interviews to facilitate and encourage discoverability and a flexible navigation within and across case studies depending on research interests.

The project launched in 2023 with urban design projects awarded the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design and will continue to cover urban design projects of excellence across the globe. We thank the funders, faculty, staff, students, and the developers Performant Solutions, LLC for bringing this project to fruition.

Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design

Rahul Mehrotra, John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization

Peter Rowe, Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design and Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

Ann Whiteside, Librarian/Assistant Dean for Information Services

Bruce Boucek, GIS, Data, and Research Librarian

Alix Reiskind, Research and Teaching Support Team Lead Librarian

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Boya Guo, DDes ‘22

Liene Asahi Baptista, MAUD ‘23

Yona Chung, DDes ‘25

Priyanka Kar, MAUD ‘24

Sarahdjane Mortimer, MAUD ‘23

Enrique Mutis, MAUD ‘24

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Jamie Folsom

Chelsea Giordan

Derek Leadbetter

Ben Silverman

With special thanks to all the image contributors who have generously granted us copyright permission to include their images in the Urban Design Case Study Archive.

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• Articles , Special Edition Articles , Thesis

15 Inspirational Riverfront Development Case Studies

• March 25, 2024
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• landscape urbanism , presentation , urban mobility , Urbanism

In recent years, the development and revitalization of riverfronts have become pivotal in urban planning and architecture across the globe, shaping the ways cities interact with their waterways. These projects not only redefine the aesthetic and functional aspects of the urban landscape but also contribute to the economic, social, and environmental well-being of the communities they serve. This article explores notable riverfront developments, providing insights into the strategies, outcomes, and impacts of these significant urban interventions.

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1. Paseo Marítimo Torrequebrada / El Muelle Arquitectos

Set against the bustling backdrop of Benalmadena Costa, amidst its sprawling tourist complexes, lies a serene yet profound intervention by El Muelle Arquitectos. This project, deeply entrenched in the ethos of tradition, landscape, and memory, seeks to weave the rich tapestry of the area’s maritime history with the modernity of today. By carefully selecting fragments tied to the sea and nature, and employing materials steeped in marine tradition, the intervention creates a harmonious dialogue between the past and present. The cornerstone of this architectural endeavor is its dedication to preserving and celebrating the coastal and natural heritage of the region, offering a refreshing contrast to its contemporary surroundings.

The heart of the project lies in its architectural masterpiece: an entrance hall that serves as a grand viewpoint overlooking the majestic Mediterranean. This structure ingeniously connects Antonio Machado Avenue with the Torrequebrada promenade, thanks to a staircase meticulously carved into the hillside, bridging a stark level difference with elegance and purpose. Further enhancing the allure of the promenade are the thoughtfully designed soft and hard bands that stretch across its length. The soft band, adorned with landscaped areas of Mediterranean flora, urban furniture, and lighting, creates a tranquil buffer space adjacent to the hotel complex. Meanwhile, the hard band caters to the more active pursuits, designed for walking and sports activities. Through strategic placement of spaces for relaxation, contemplation, and sunbathing, the intervention not only highlights the breathtaking landscape but also reclaims a piece of the city as a cherished oasis for both shelter and enjoyment.

2. Niederhafen River Promenade / Zaha Hadid Architects

In the heart of Hamburg, Germany, the Niederhafen River Promenade, designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, stands as a modern testament to the city’s commitment to both urban resilience and aesthetic splendor. As part of the city’s extensive flood protection system upgrade, this 625-meter-long promenade elegantly stretches along the Elbe River, connecting St. Pauli Landungsbrücken with Baumwall. This architectural marvel not only enhances Hamburg’s flood defenses by incorporating a higher barrier to accommodate modern hydrological predictions but also rejuvenates a key public space, marrying functionality with leisure. The project, initiated in response to the devastating storm surge floods of 1962 and subsequent findings regarding the insufficiency of the old barrier, showcases an adept integration of protective infrastructure and urban landscape design.

Beyond its primary role in flood defense, the Niederhafen River Promenade serves as a vibrant urban space that enriches the city’s riverside. Its design cleverly incorporates generous public areas, including wide staircases that double as small amphitheaters, shops, cafes, and dedicated cycle lanes, thus re-connecting the city fabric to the river in a seamless and engaging manner. These meticulously planned spaces not only provide residents and visitors with uninterrupted views of the Elbe and the bustling port but also facilitate a dynamic interplay between the promenade and adjacent neighborhoods through strategic access points and pedestrian crossings. The inclusion of a restaurant and food kiosks within the flood protection structure adds to the promenade’s appeal as a destination, offering panoramic dining experiences. This project exemplifies how contemporary urban infrastructure can successfully embody resilience, functionality, and aesthetic appeal, setting a benchmark for future developments worldwide.

3. Seoul's Cheonggyecheon riverfront

The Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration Project in Seoul, South Korea, is a monumental endeavor that epitomizes the transformative power of urban ecological renewal and landscape architecture. Initially conceived as a corrective measure to tackle environmental degradation and enhance urban livability, the project ambitiously replaced a formerly elevated freeway with a revitalized 3.6-mile-long stream corridor. By reintroducing the historic Cheonggyecheon Stream to the heart of Seoul, this initiative has not only resurrected a buried natural watercourse but has also reestablished a vital ecological and social artery through the city’s densely built environment. Completed in 2005 with a landscape budget of around $120 million USD as part of a total $380 million USD investment, the project covers approximately 100 acres and spans a significant stretch of Seoul’s urban fabric.

This restoration has yielded remarkable environmental, social, and economic benefits, fundamentally altering the character and dynamics of its urban surroundings. Environmentally, it provides robust flood protection capable of handling a 200-year flood event, significantly enhances biodiversity within the city, and mitigates urban heat island effects, contributing to a more temperate urban climate. Socially, it has boosted public transit usage, attracted thousands of daily visitors, including international tourists, thereby enriching the social fabric and vibrancy of Seoul. Economically, the project has precipitated a substantial increase in land values nearby, spurred business growth, and enhanced the overall economic vitality of the Cheonggyecheon area. The Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration stands as a beacon of sustainable urban redevelopment, showcasing how integrating ecological principles with urban infrastructure can revitalize cities, benefiting both people and the planet.

4. Hoosic River Flood Chute Naturalization

In an inspiring collaboration aimed at harmonizing human ingenuity with the rhythms of the natural world, the Hoosic River Flood Chute Naturalization project in North Adams, Massachusetts, embodies a transformative vision. Spearheaded by the Hoosic River Revival and supported by an ensemble of experts in landscape architecture, civil engineering, ecology, and urban planning, the project sought to mend the severed connection between the city and its fluvial lifeline. Historically, the North and South Branch of the Hoosic River propelled North Adams into industrial prosperity, yet their unpredictability necessitated drastic measures. The construction of concrete flood chutes by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, while effective in flood management, disrupted local ecosystems and distanced the community from their river. The project, completed in June 2015, aimed to rekindle this lost relationship through ecological restoration and innovative flood defense strategies, thereby reinventing the rivers as vibrant habitats and recreational areas.

The restoration approach was ingeniously designed by SASAKI Associares to be informed by nature itself, focusing on re-establishing the river’s historic floodplain connection and utilizing natural processes for flood mitigation. This method not only promises a resilient flood defense mechanism but also fosters rich riparian habitats, enhancing the biodiversity of the region. The pilot phase of the project leveraged public lands along the South Branch to showcase a suite of community-driven enhancements, including recreational pathways and ecological improvements that link key city landmarks and promote a unified urban experience. The initiative not only revitalizes the natural environment but also supports North Adams’ burgeoning identity as a cultural and recreational hub, demonstrating the potential of thoughtful, ecologically centered design to redefine urban spaces and their relationship with the natural world.

5. Cincinnati John G. and Phyllis W. Smale Riverfront Park

The Cincinnati John G. and Phyllis W. Smale Riverfront Park  by SASAKI Associates  stands as a testament to the transformative power of public-private partnerships, bridging the gap between the vibrant urban life of downtown Cincinnati and the tranquil flows of the Ohio River. Spanning 32 acres along the water’s edge, this expansive green space was brought to life through the collaborative efforts of the Cincinnati Park Board, supported by both community engagement and significant private contributions. Completed in 2010, the park not only serves as a lush, welcoming front door to the city but also as a versatile venue for a plethora of activities ranging from leisurely strolls along its pathways to large-scale events drawing visitors from across the nation. The design of the park thoughtfully incorporates the surrounding city landmarks, including the historical Roebling Bridge and major sports venues, creating a cohesive urban landscape that celebrates Cincinnati’s architectural heritage and its natural surroundings. 

6. Buji River in Luohu, Shenzhen

The revitalization of the Buji River in Luohu, Shenzhen, serves as a pioneering example of how strategic urban planning and design can transform an environmentally challenged urban waterway into a vital urban watershed, fostering not only ecological resilience but also socio-economic revitalization. Faced with the dual challenges of deteriorating water quality and the increasing threat of climate extremes, such as droughts and heavy rainfall, the Luohu government embarked on a visionary project. Through strategic investments in transport and open space networks, alongside concerted efforts to improve water management and quality, this initiative has charted a course toward redefining Luohu’s identity, weaving together the district’s historical fabric with its future aspirations.

Central to the transformation of the Buji River from a constrained urban drainage canal to a vibrant urban resource was the implementation of a multi-tiered strategy focused on separation, revitalization, and integration of various water systems. Initially, wastewater and stormwater systems were separated into three distinct spatial structures: the Riverfront, the Riverbed, and the River Basin. This separation allowed for targeted cleanup and restoration efforts, ensuring a controlled and phased improvement in water quality. Over time, these systems are envisaged to merge into a cohesive, integrated water management system, reinstating the river as the central artery of a green-blue network throughout Luohu. This network not only aims to enhance the river’s capacity to manage water but also to elevate its role as a catalyst for urban quality, interlinking small squares, parks, and amphibious boulevards into a coherent public realm. These interventions, designed to enhance both the functional and aesthetic qualities of the river, promise to redefine the urban landscape, offering residents and visitors alike a diverse range of accessible landscapes—from mountains and rivers to parks and urban plazas—within minutes, thereby encapsulating the transformative power of integrated urban and environmental planning.

7. The Merwedekanaalzone, Utrecht, Netherlands

The Merwedekanaalzone, specifically Zone 5 in Utrecht, Netherlands, represents a groundbreaking urban redevelopment project that aims to redefine the concept of sustainable urban living for the future. Spanning 24 hectares, this ambitious project is set to accommodate approximately 12,000 residents, positioning it as the largest development zone within the rapidly growing city of Utrecht. This initiative is a direct response to the pressing need for sustainable development that caters to contemporary lifestyles while effectively addressing the multifaceted challenges posed by climate change.

The collaborative efforts underpinning the project are noteworthy, involving a broad spectrum of stakeholders including the municipality of Utrecht, multiple landowners, experts, and other key players. This extensive collaboration has given rise to a comprehensive plan designed to introduce around 6,000 new dwellings to the southwestern part of the city. The strategic location of Kanaleneiland, with its strong connections to Utrecht Central Station, underscores its pivotal role in meeting the city’s burgeoning housing needs. The design ethos for the public spaces within this district is particularly innovative, aiming to preserve the industrial heritage of the island while simultaneously showcasing its climate-adaptive and forward-thinking character.

8. The Golden Horn Waterfront Sports Park and Public Space

The Golden Horn Waterfront Sports Park and Public Space by, masterminded by architects Ervin Garip and Banu Garip, stands as a sterling exemplar of urban regeneration, melding athletic vitality with public inclusivity along the historic shores of Istanbul’s Golden Horn. Awarded 1st Prize in the “Istanbul Golden Horn Coasts Urban Design Competition,” this project spans an impressive 230,000 square meters, revitalizing a crucial segment of the city’s waterfront. At its heart, the development seeks to repair the estranged relationship between the city and its waterway, a divide deepened by industrialization, urban interventions, and infrastructural developments that overlooked the area’s historical essence and communal significance.

Key to this urban rejuvenation is the careful reimagining of public spaces to foster both leisure and sport, underpinned by a holistic design approach that prioritizes continuity, identity, and environmental integration. The project’s commitment to a “fluid urban design” is manifest in its seamless blend of sports areas, gathering spaces, a skatepark, and seating areas, all designed to foster direct interactions with the waterfront. This strategic layout not only enriches the public realm but also leverages the Golden Horn’s environmental and historical backdrop to animate daily life and catalyze social activities.

9. The Rhine Embankment Promenade in Düsseldorf

The Rhine Embankment Promenade in Düsseldorf is a splendid example of urban redevelopment and architectural foresight, seamlessly blending leisure, culture, and natural beauty along the banks of one of Europe’s most significant rivers. Designed by architect Niklaus Fritschi between 1990 and 1997, this promenade has transformed the city’s relationship with the Rhine, turning a once car-dominated waterfront into a vibrant pedestrian haven. The promenade’s creation was intricately linked to the construction of the Rhine bank tunnel, an ambitious infrastructure project that rerouted vehicular traffic underground, reclaiming the riverbanks for public enjoyment and ecological restoration.

Stretching for one-and-a-half kilometers between the historical Old Town and the Rhine, the promenade offers both locals and visitors a serene escape from the urban bustle. It features a myriad of attractions, from the gentle breezes and stunning sunsets that can be enjoyed along its length, to the diverse gastronomic experiences available at the Kasematten. The open staircase and city beaches that emerge during the summer months add to the promenade’s charm, offering spaces for relaxation, socialization, and recreation amidst panoramic river views.

10. Sydney’s Waterfront Development

The Barangaroo Harbour Park Design Competition has heralded a new era in the conceptualization and development of urban waterfront spaces, with the First Nations-led AKIN team emerging victorious. This ensemble, an amalgamation of Indigenous and non-Indigenous expertise including Yerrabingin, Architectus, Flying Fish Blue, Jacob Nash Design, and Studio Chris Fox, with Arup serving as engineering consultants, has been tasked with the transformative mission of reimagining 1.85 hectares of reclaimed land in Central Barangaroo. This endeavor is not just a landscape project but a profound act of cultural and ecological reconciliation and regeneration, embedded within the 33-hectare precinct currently under development in Sydney, Australia.

AKIN’s vision for the Barangaroo Harbour Park is deeply rooted in the rich tapestry of the area’s original use by the Gadigal people as a place for hunting, fishing, canoeing, swimming, and gathering, stretching back over 7,000 years. Their design philosophy is firmly planted in the essence of Country, aiming to rejuvenate ecological systems, enrich local biodiversity with native flora, and manage water sustainably through innovative filtration processes before its return to the Harbour. Beyond its green credentials, the project is distinguished by its commitment to fostering connections and celebrating the enduring culture of the area’s Indigenous peoples. Large-scale public artworks symbolizing water, wind, and the moon serve as focal points for storytelling, gathering, and ceremonies, reinforcing the park’s role as a nexus of cultural continuity and environmental stewardship. Through such thoughtful integration of design and function, AKIN’s proposal promises to transform the Barangaroo waterfront into a dynamic, inclusive space that honors its ancient stories while looking forward to a sustainable future.

11. Antalya Konyaalti Coastline Urban Rehabilitation project

The Antalya Konyaalti Coastline Urban Rehabilitation project, spearheaded by OZER/URGER Architects, represents a groundbreaking approach to the revitalization of Antalya’s waterfront. Unveiled in 2018, this project transforms an 8,000 square meter stretch of the Konyaalti coastline into a multifaceted urban landscape that prioritizes pedestrian accessibility, ecological sustainability, and cultural vibrancy. By reimagining the relationship between the city and its waterfront, the project seeks to enhance the quality of life for residents and visitors alike, while respecting and integrating the natural beauty and ecological features of the Mediterranean shore.

The project’s design philosophy centers on reducing the dominance of the highway that previously separated the coastal area from the city, thereby fostering a stronger connection between the residential neighborhoods and the coastline. This was achieved through the creation of thematic zones that offer a diverse array of recreational, cultural, and sporting activities, effectively making the coastline an extension of the city’s public space. The inclusion of modular urban landscape elements, such as urban furniture and plantation landscaping elements, adds functional and aesthetic value, transforming the coastline into a lively and engaging public realm. With a focus on pedestrian-friendly pathways, improved public transport, and bicycle infrastructure, the Antalya Konyaalti Coastline Urban Rehabilitation project sets a new standard for coastal urban design, emphasizing sustainability, accessibility, and community engagement.

12. Sabarmati Riverfront Development

The Sabarmati Riverfront Development (SRFD) project in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, stands as a monumental example of urban renewal and sustainable development, spearheaded to transform the relationship between the city and its historic river. Initiated in 1996, this comprehensive project sought to address several critical issues facing the city, including frequent flooding, environmental degradation, and the encroachment of the river’s natural course due to rapid urban expansion. By adopting an innovative self-financing model, the SRFD project has managed to alleviate the financial burden on the government while embarking on an ambitious mission to rejuvenate the Sabarmati River as the lifeline of Ahmedabad.

Central to the SRFD’s success is its focus on creating extensive public spaces, reclaiming over 85% of the riverfront land for free and open use. This initiative has introduced more than 20 km of pedestrian promenades along each bank, alongside a 29 km long road network, enhancing connectivity and accessibility to the riverfront from the city. The transformation has not only protected Ahmedabad from the threats of flooding but also revitalized its urban landscape, making the riverfront a hub for recreational activities, green parks, and gardens. The project has reinvigorated social and traditional activities, with facilities like a modern Dhobi Ghat and a vibrant Riverfront Market, fostering a sense of community and belonging among the city’s residents. Furthermore, the relocation of over 10,000 families from flood-prone areas to formal housing underscores the project’s commitment to improving living conditions while respecting the environment and heritage of Ahmedabad. Through these multifaceted efforts, the SRFD project exemplifies how thoughtful urban planning and community engagement can harmoniously blend to create sustainable and lively urban spaces.

13. Tel Aviv's Central Promenade Renewal

The renewal of Tel Aviv’s Central Promenade by Mayslits Kassif Architects marks a significant transformation in the urban and cultural landscape of Tel Aviv, Israel. Completed in 2018, this project has redefined the interaction between the city and its waterfront, historically separated by an elevated boardwalk since the late 1930s. By introducing a seamless transition between the city fabric and the sandy shores of the Mediterranean, the renovation fosters a new level of accessibility and engagement with the seafront, enhancing the urban experience for residents and visitors alike.

The project’s innovative design features continuous sitting-stairs and ramps along the waterfront, converting previously disused rooftops of beach buildings into inviting urban balconies, thus repairing the physical and symbolic break between Tel Aviv and its beach. The promenade has been expanded toward the sea with terraced sitting platforms and ample shaded areas, integrating recreational spaces equipped with sports facilities, game courts, playgrounds, and relaxation zones under the palm trees. This thoughtful approach not only minimizes the environmental impact but also ensures universal accessibility, creating a vibrant ‘new ground’ that embodies the dynamic spirit of Tel Aviv.

The Central Promenade now serves as a bustling public domain that welcomes over 9 million visitors annually, a testament to its success given Israel’s population of about 9 million. It has become a crucible of urban life, where the diverse tapestry of Tel Aviv’s society – from acrobats to joggers to families – converges in a shared social space. This transformation not only enhances the city’s relationship with its primary natural asset, the sea, but also fosters a sense of community and openness, contributing to the city’s reputation as a vibrant and inclusive urban environment.

14. Victoria on the River (VOTR) in Hamilton, New Zealand,

Victoria on the River (VOTR) in Hamilton, New Zealand, represents a landmark urban design project completed in 2018, which skillfully bridges the central business district (CBD) of Hamilton with the natural beauty of the Waikato River. For years, the potential to create a significant link between the city’s urban core and its prime natural asset, the Waikato River, remained unrealized. VOTR has effectively seized this opportunity, establishing not only a visual and physical connection but also a vibrant public space that enhances urban life.

The project was meticulously designed to serve dual purposes. On one hand, it acts as a dynamic destination in its own right, inviting people to pause, interact, and savor the stunning river views. On the other, it functions as a strategic link that cohesively integrates the varying elevations of the lower river path, the upper promenade, and the city’s main street. This dual functionality addresses a long-standing disconnect within the urban fabric of Hamilton, offering both a serene retreat and a vital pedestrian thoroughfare.

15. Orla do Guaíba Urban Park in Porto Alegre, Brazil

The Orla do Guaíba Urban Park in Porto Alegre, Brazil, masterfully conceptualized and executed by Jaime Lerner Arquitetos Associados, stands as a testament to the transformative power of urban design. Completed in 2018, this extensive project stretches across 56.7 hectares along 1.5 kilometers of the Lake Guaíba shore. It represents a significant step by the Porto Alegre City Hall to rejuvenate and return one of the city’s most precious natural assets to its citizens, addressing longstanding issues of safety, abandonment, and environmental degradation.

This urban and environmental regeneration initiative has markedly improved the quality of life for Porto Alegre’s inhabitants, fostering social, economic, and ecological benefits. By bridging people, culture, history, and nature, the park has created a virtuous circle of mutual appreciation and interaction. Strategically located adjacent to the city’s central area, it offers easy accessibility, enhancing the seamlessness between the urban fabric and the natural landscape.

The park is a beacon of urban integration, combining elements of the natural and built environments to encourage community gathering and enjoyment. Facilities include bars, cafes, sports areas, and restrooms, transforming what was once a municipal burden into a valuable asset that adds significant value while reducing costs. The project’s architectural and landscape design takes full advantage of the existing topography and natural scenery, utilizing materials like concrete, glass, wood, and steel to ensure an aesthetic of lightness and integration with the environment. The design mimics the water’s movement, curving gently along the terrain and enhancing the estuary’s scenic beauty with the addition of bleachers that provide the best views of the renowned sunset.

These case studies highlight a range of strategies and outcomes, from integrating ecological considerations and public accessibility to fostering social and economic revitalization along urban waterfronts. Each project reflects a unique approach to dealing with the challenges and opportunities presented by their specific contexts.

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King’s Cross

Format Full City London Country UK Metro Area London Project Type Mixed Use Location Type Central Business District Land Uses Hotel Multifamily Rental Housing Office Open space Parking Retail Keywords Brownfield development Energy-efficient design Healthy place features Pedestrian-friendly design Place making Public-private partnership Transit station Transit-oriented development Urban regeneration Site Size 67 acres acres hectares Date Started 2001 Date Opened 2020

King’s Cross is a mixed-use, urban regeneration project in central London that is also a major transport hub for the city. Located on the site of former rail and industrial facilities, the 67-acre (27 ha) redevelopment is ongoing and involves restoration of historic buildings as well as new construction, with the entire plan organised around internal streets and 26 acres (10.5 ha) of open space to form a new public realm for the area. Principal uses include 3.4 million square feet (316,000 sq m) of office space, 2,000 residential units, 500,000 square feet (46,400 sq m) of retail and leisure space, a hotel, and educational facilities. The site is served directly by six London Underground lines, two national mainline train stations, and an international high-speed rail connecting to Paris.

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Website www.kingscross.co.uk

Project address King’s Cross London N1C 4AB United Kingdom

Ownership entity/developer King’s Cross Central Limited Partnership

Ownership entity partners Argent LLP London and Continental Railways Limited DHL Supply Chain

Master developer and asset manager Argent King’s Cross Limited Partnership 4 Stable Street King's Cross London N1C 4AB United Kingdom www.argentllp.co.uk

Investment partner Hermes Real Estate on behalf of the BT Pension Scheme

CONTRACTORS AND CONSULTANTS

Master planners Allies and Morrison www.alliesandmorrison.com

Porphyrios Associates www.porphyrios.co.uk

Townshend Landscape Architects. www.townshendla.com

Contractors Carillon BAM Kier Group

Registered social landlord One Housing Group

Office advisers DTZ Savills

Residential advisers Knight Frank

Retail and catering advisers Lunson Mitchenall

Hotel advisers CB Richard Ellis

OTHER RESOURCES

Videos youtube.com/ULITV vimeo.com/kingscrosscouk

Other links Twitter: @kingscrossn1c Facebook: facebook.com/kingscrossuk

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Housing and the City: case studies of integrated urban design

This case study report assembles a series of housing initiatives from different cities that are developed to promote inclusive, sustainable and integrated designs. The schemes range in scale and geographic location, but in each case represent a clear commitment to achieve positive social and environmental outcomes through innovative yet people and planet-focused design.

Housing is the backbone of a well-functioning and equitable city. The way in which housing is procured, financed, designed and allocated has significant implications for the lives of all urban residents. However, governments are failing to provide the human right of housing for all. The Council on Urban Initiatives has argued that mission-oriented approaches are needed to galvanise the whole of government engagement, while sectoral investment and cross-disciplinary collaboration are needed to realise the right to housing and prioritise the common good.

Housing has a profound spatial impact on cities. Apartment blocks, condominium towers, detached and terraced houses, self-built shacks and informal slums occupy by far the largest portion of urban land in cities around the world. Decisions about the physical distribution and design of housing will shape the social, economic and environmental dynamics for millions of urban residents for decades to come – particularly in Asia and Africa where urban populations are projected to balloon. Irresponsible development, poor community engagement, and overly permissive regulations and standards have encouraged architectural and urban design practices that foster inequality, exclusion and negative environmental impacts.

The report is divided into three sections: inclusive design, sustainable design and integrated design. Each section highlights examples of housing initiatives with short descriptive texts authored by individual Council members and their teams. From small-scale retrofits in Bogotá’s informal areas to Singapore’s massive state-driven investments, the case studies highlight that governing and designing housing for the common good is critical to the creation of just, green and healthy cities.

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CASE STUDY: Urban Design THE CITY OF MARIKINA CASE STUDY MARIKINA CITY

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Peri-urban is commonly defined as an area around the suburban region that has the hybrid characteristics between an urban area and a rural area. The study aimed to investigate the change of regional typology due to the progress of the peri-urban area in Marisa based on the physical and social aspects in 1980 and in 2017. Encompassing two districts, the study employed descriptive-quantitative method and analysis techniques, i.e., overlay, scoring, and spatial. The results showed that in 1980, four districts were included in the rural frame zone (zona bidang desa) category. Moreover, seven sub-districts were categorized as rural-urban frame zone (zona bidang desa kota) while the rest were included in the rural frame zone category. In 2017, a change of typology from rural-urban frame zone to urban-rural frame zone occurred in several villages/sub-districts, i.e., Libuo, South Marisa, North Marisa, and Pohuwato. Over a span of 37 years, the typology of several sub-districts has changed from rural frame zone to urban frame zone in Libuo, South Marisa, North Marisa, and Pohuwato village/sub-district. The urban sprawl in areas in Marisa has increased the need for an integrated policy to create a balanced spatial development.

As two areas directly adjacent to Gorontalo City, the sub-districts of Telaga (Gorontalo Regency) and Kabila (Bone Bolango Regency) are the center of regional growth. The study aimed to examine the physical development of two sub-districts, Telaga and Kabila, since the sub-districts previously mentioned have different regional characteristics and different physical morphology developments influenced by Gorontalo city. That the two sub-districts can be viewed as a peri-urban area of Gorontalo city is a fascinating topic to comprehend the peri-urban area. The stages of this qualitative descriptive research consisted of preliminary survey and observation, distributing questionnaires, collecting data, processing data, data analysis, and data interpretation. Over the last ten years, urban land use has increased in both Telaga and Kabila sub-district by 5% (49.18 ha) and 3% (45.58 ha), respectively. Agropolis activities still dominated the two peri-urban areas. The pattern of land use in the Sub-District of Telaga was the pattern of octopus, while that of Kabila sub-district was a linear pattern (southern part) and frog jump (northern part). Generally, the street pattern in the peri-urban area has a linear path pattern. The development of this peri-urban area seemed unplanned. The situation is understandable since these two areas were initially agrarian villages and hinterland areas of Gorontalo city.

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The established economic activity is also influenced by road network patterns and transportation accessibility, to encourage the emergence of new urban activities, activity patterns and movement patterns. The height of land function in the residential area of Marisa is influenced by the ease of accessibility and the demand for residential because it is next to the Central Office district and the urban center. The study aims to (1) Identify components of morphological form comprising land use, road and building network patterns (patterns and densities), (2) Analyzing the morphological form of the old City of Marisa and combine it with characteristic morphological forming components. The methods of research used are qualitative methods of phenomenology. The results showed that (1) the City of Marisa has a characteristic of a village-city frame zone (zobikodes) that is fertile, developing naturally for surplus commodities. The land use pattern of Marisa City, Marisa City Road network, and the patterns and functions of Marisa City are a component of the morphological constituent of Marisa. (2) The City of Marisa forms a compact city i.e. octopus morphology (octopus shaped/star shaped cities) and the custom Tawulongo into local wisdom in organizing the layout of Old Town center Maris

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The discussion about a house cannot only be learned from the perceivable physical form, but the house can be a description of the development process of the formation of a family with the social, cultural and economic conditions that underlie it. The physical condition of a residence can also provide an idea of how far the home owner has adapted the technology and culture around him. Family routine activities can also be described in the condition of the existing space configuration in the house. Circulation patterns are intentionally or unintentionally formed from the configuration of space which forms an element of the living space. This is also what happens to community settlements in the Poncokusumo District, Malang Regency. The condition of the area adjacent to Ngadas Village which is very thick with Tengger customs and culture was an interesting reason for the Poncokusumo District as the object of the research. The configuration pattern of the residential space was the result of this research discussion which was analyzed using qualitative methods. house, room, configuration. Key words: house, room, configuration

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How Eight Cities Succeeded in Rejuvenating their Urban Land

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SINGAPORE, July 13, 2016 – The single most crucial component in rejuvenating decaying urban areas around the world is private sector participation, according to a report released today from the World Bank and the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) during the World Cities Summit taking place in Singapore this week.

“ Urban regeneration projects are rarely implemented solely by the public sector.  There is a need for massive financial resources that most cities can’t meet,” said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director for the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice .  “Participation from the private sector is a critical factor in determining whether a regeneration program is successful – programs that create urban areas where citizens can live, work, and thrive .”

Every city has pockets of underused land or distressed urban areas, most often the result of changes in urban growth and productivity patterns. In developing countries, which are absorbing 90 percent of the world’s urban population growth, decaying inner cities are home to an increasing number of poor and vulnerable citizens. These areas marginalize and exclude residents, and can have a long-term negative effect on their upward mobility.

Regenerating Urban Land: A Practitioner’s Guide to Leveraging Private Investment looks at regeneration programs from eight cities around the world – Ahmedabad, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Santiago, Singapore, Seoul, Shanghai, and Washington DC – documenting the journeys they have faced in tackling major challenges in this area. 

Building on the experience of cities from different regions around the world, the report looks at projects for inner cities, former industrial or commercial site, ports, waterfronts, and historic neighborhoods. While the cases vary in many aspects, what they have in common is significant private sector participation in the regeneration and rehabilitation of deteriorating urban areas. 

The report singles out successful policy and finance tools in each city case study, and points out issues and challenges the city faced during the process. It identifies four distinct phases for successful urban regeneration: scoping, planning, financing, and implementation. Each phase includes a set of unique mechanisms that local governments can use to systematically design a regeneration process.

For example, in Singapore, the polluted Singapore River was no longer used for trading activities as large-scale container ports gained prominence. 

“ Capitalizing on the Singapore River’s historical importance and potential for redevelopment, the government launched a transformational program that preserved cultural heritage, improved the environment, and opened the area for recreational pedestrian use.  Similar efforts elsewhere can rejuvenate cities and regional economies,” said Jordan Schwartz, Director of the World Bank’s Infrastructure & Urban Development Hub, based in Singapore .

Yet there is no “one size fits all” approach when looking for solutions to cities’ declining areas.  The report stresses that while the tools presented in the report yielded successful results in many cities around the world, no one solution is universally applicable to all cities and situations .  The report also emphasizes that with strong political leadership, any city can start an urban regeneration process, but the successful use of land-planning and finance tools depend on sound and well-enforced zoning and property tax systems.

“No two cities are alike, so to meet this challenge, the World Bank created an online decision tool, based on the specific issues the city faces and its current regulatory and financial environment ,” said Rana Amirtahmasebi, author of the report. “ Local governments can use the information curated in this report to begin to reverse the process of economic, social, and physical decay in urban areas, moving toward the sustainable, inclusive development of their cities.”    

Illustrating the transformation, other case studies from the new report include:

• The city of Santiago (Chile) lost almost 50 percent of its population and 33 percent of its housing stock between 1950 and 1990. But the city turned this around, using a national housing subsidy to specifically target the repopulation of the inner city. The private investment reached USD 3 billion throughout the life of project, stimulated by a USD 138 million subsidy.
• Buenos Aires (Argentina) found itself on the verge of becoming unsustainable, when urban sprawl moved away from downtown leaving prime waterfront land, with significant architectural and industrial heritage, vacant and underused. To tackle this problem, the city used a self-financing urban regeneration initiative in Puerto Madero to redevelop the unused 170-hectare land parcel to an attractive mixed-use waterfront neighborhood. The total investment reached USD 1.7 billion, with USD 300 million invested by the city through the sale of land.
• Seoul (Republic of Korea) experienced a major decrease in residential and commercial activity in its downtown, where small plots, narrow roads, and high land prices made development too costly. From 1975 to 1995, Seoul lost more than half its downtown population, while substandard housing for mostly squatters and renters was more than twice the city’s average. Seoul launched the Cheonggyecheon revitalization project to redevelop an 18-lane elevated highway into a revitalized stream with green public space totaling 16.3 hectares, dramatically increasing real estate values and the variety of uses for the downtown areas.
• In Ahmedabad (India) , the closure of mills along the Sabarmati Riverfront caused unemployed laborers to form large informal settlements along the riverbed, creating unsafe and unclean living areas and reducing the flood management capacity.  In response, the city created a development corporation to reclaim 200 hectares of riverfront land on both sides and paid the project costs through the sale of 14.5 percent of the reclaimed land, while the rest of the riverfront was transformed into public parks and laborers resettled through a national program. 
• In the 18-square kilometer inner city of Johannesburg (South Africa) , a series of targeted regeneration initiatives achieved a decline in property vacancy rates from 40 percent in 2003 to 17 percent in 2008, and a similar jump in property transactions.  Since 2001, for every rand (R) 1 million (about USD 63,000) invested by the Johannesburg Development Authority, private investors have put R 18 million into the inner city of Johannesburg, creating property assets valued at R 600 million and infrastructure assets valued at R 3.1 billion.

For the full report and toolkit, please visit: https://urban-regeneration.worldbank.org/

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Sabarmati Riverfront Development by Dr. Bimal Patel: A Tale of Urban Transformation

Sabarmati Riverfront Development – Dr. Bimal Patel is an architect from Gujarat with over 35 years of experience in this profession. He is into research and has teaching experience in different architectural colleges. He followed his father’s footsteps and worked with him after he graduated. One of his 1st projects was a campus for the entrepreneurship development institute. Also, has his firm in Ahmedabad founded by Dr. Patel named the HCP design, planning , and management. Also founded an environmental planning collaborative, a not-for-profit, planning research, and advocacy organization. He was awarded the Padma Shri award in 2019 for all the excellent work and is the president of the CEPT University in Ahmedabad since 2012.

One of his signature projects is the Sabarmati Riverfront Development 

The city of Ahmedabad is defined by the banks of river Sabarmati. The land is about 200 hectares. It is one of the true cities across the world and this river became Ahmedabad’s lifeline for centuries, as this was the only source of water but also provided with informal recreational space for the city. As time passed, the river was polluted by the flow of unrestricted waste from the industrial and domestic. This made it so difficult for the people living around the river. The Sabarmati riverfront development project has been under implementation since 1996, retaining walls provided on either side that are rigid which is used to support the soil laterally. Sabarmati is always been very important to the people in Ahmedabad as it was not just a source for drinking water but also a place for recreation, a place to gather, a place for the poor to build their homes, places for the Dhobis to earn an income, and a place to hold the traditional market. The concept and method proposed were to generate revenue, to prevent erosion of the river banks, and to reduce the burden on the government. This project doesn’t just help with the protection from flooding but also with the reclamation of land. Since the Sabarmati river is seasonal, water is channeled into the river from the Narmada canal, this intersects the river. More than 80 percent of the land is used for all the free and public spaces. This area has a nice walkway and is the central part which connects to the various parts of the city. The place has a lot of lush greens which attracts people and this now becomes a space for people to have a nice evening walk.

The Sabarmati riverfront development projects also boost on the social and traditional activities where the areas around this riverfront have been equally segregated.

A well-organized Dhobi Ghats facilities for all the washermen incorporating about 168 formal washing spaces, state of art laundry campus and unique of its kind in the country, and a riverfront Sunday flea market which accommodates about 1600 local vendors along with a parking space which could accommodate 1942 two-wheelers and 428 car parking. They have provided a diaphragm wall which helps in aligning the smooth profile of the waterway and for the protection to retain earth and anchor slab used to anchor the diaphragm wall with RCC key to provide a walkway in the proximity of the waterbody. They have provided the existing bridges with pier protection which prevents the structure from being hit. They worked on the sewerage network to stop the flow of the sewage and keep the river clean. To prevent the untreated sewage flowing into the river, two sewage interceptor lines with the new pumping stations have been constructed along with the reclaimed spaces at the banks. Also made sure that the people working along for the projects have been relocated to “pucca” (The term pucca means solid and permanent) this is a solid structure made of brick, stone, concrete, or timber which are dwellings designed permanently. Diversion of sewage to the east and the west bank. The place was improved, environmental interceptor sewer system ensuring clean water in the river, retention of water in the river almost for a whole year. They also recharge the groundwater aquifers of the city. Plantation of about more than 20,000 trees and development of garden and parks and other green areas. They also celebrate the kite festival and various other gatherings like cyclotrons, marathons, Navaratri festivals, and more. The city and the river with time have developed. All the illegal housing in the flood-prone areas has now been shifted to formal housing under the direct supervision of the high court of Gujarat. This project is self-financial and cost-effective; they have tried and made this as sustainable as possible. They also worked on the rehabilitation of the slums wherein more than 1000 families residing in the riverbed/ affected by the project. They are now safe from the flood-prone areas and have a better life which improves the social and economic well-being of them.

The development of this project will improve the efficiency of infrastructure and the quality of life in Ahmedabad.

Being a student of architecture sometimes looking for a different way to say or convey things helps to say something's better.I have always communicated to people through writing it makes things a lot more easier writing is something I am passionate about as it helps me learn and explore.

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• Open access
• Published: 02 September 2024

Green spaces provide substantial but unequal urban cooling globally

• Yuxiang Li 1 ,
• Jens-Christian Svenning   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-3415-0862 2 ,
• Weiqi Zhou   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-7323-4906 3 , 4 , 5 ,
• Kai Zhu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-1587-3317 6 ,
• Jesse F. Abrams   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0411-8519 7 ,
• Timothy M. Lenton   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6725-7498 7 ,
• William J. Ripple 8 ,
• Zhaowu Yu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4576-4541 9 ,
• Shuqing N. Teng 1 ,
• Robert R. Dunn 10 &
• Chi Xu   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-1841-9032 1  

Nature Communications volume  15 , Article number:  7108 ( 2024 ) Cite this article

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• Climate-change mitigation
• Urban ecology

Climate warming disproportionately impacts countries in the Global South by increasing extreme heat exposure. However, geographic disparities in adaptation capacity are unclear. Here, we assess global inequality in green spaces, which urban residents critically rely on to mitigate outdoor heat stress. We use remote sensing data to quantify daytime cooling by urban greenery in the warm seasons across the ~500 largest cities globally. We show a striking contrast, with Global South cities having ~70% of the cooling capacity of cities in the Global North (2.5 ± 1.0 °C vs. 3.6 ± 1.7 °C). A similar gap occurs for the cooling adaptation benefits received by an average resident in these cities (2.2 ± 0.9 °C vs. 3.4 ± 1.7 °C). This cooling adaptation inequality is due to discrepancies in green space quantity and quality between cities in the Global North and South, shaped by socioeconomic and natural factors. Our analyses further suggest a vast potential for enhancing cooling adaptation while reducing global inequality.

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Introduction.

Heat extremes are projected to be substantially intensified by global warming 1 , 2 , imposing a major threat to human mortality and morbidity in the coming decades 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 . This threat is particularly concerning as a majority of people now live in cities 7 , including those cities suffering some of the hottest climate extremes. Cities face two forms of warming: warming due to climate change and warming due to the urban heat island effect 8 , 9 , 10 . These two forms of warming have the potential to be additive, or even multiplicative. Climate change in itself is projected to result in rising maximum temperatures above 50 °C for a considerable fraction of the world if 2 °C global warming is exceeded 2 ; the urban heat island effect will cause up to >10 °C additional (surface) warming 11 . Exposures to temperatures above 35 °C with high humidity or above 40 °C with low humidity can lead to lethal heat stress for humans 12 . Even before such lethal temperatures are reached, worker productivity 13 and general health and well-being 14 can suffer. Heat extremes are especially risky for people living in the Global South 15 , 16 due to warmer climates at low latitudes. Climate models project that the lethal temperature thresholds will be exceeded with increasing frequencies and durations, and such extreme conditions will be concentrated in low-latitude regions 17 , 18 , 19 . These low-latitude regions overlap with the major parts of the Global South where population densities are already high and where population growth rates are also high. Consequently, the number of people exposed to extreme heat will likely increase even further, all things being equal 16 , 20 . That population growth will be accompanied by expanded urbanization and intensified urban heat island effects 21 , 22 , potentially exacerbating future Global North-Global South heat stress exposure inequalities.

Fortunately, we know that heat stress can be buffered, in part, by urban vegetation 23 . Urban green spaces, and especially urban forests, have proven an effective means through which to ameliorate heat stress through shading 24 , 25 and transpirational cooling 26 , 27 . The buffering effect of urban green spaces is influenced by their area (relative to the area of the city) and their spatial configuration 28 . In this context, green spaces become a kind of infrastructure that can and should be actively managed. At broad spatial scales, the effect of this urban green infrastructure is also mediated by differences among regions, whether in their background climate 29 , composition of green spaces 30 , or other factors 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 . The geographic patterns of the buffering effects of green spaces, whether due to geographic patterns in their areal extent or region-specific effects, have so far been poorly characterized.

On their own, the effects of climate change and urban heat islands on human health are likely to become severe. However, these effects will become even worse if they fall disproportionately in cities or countries with less economic ability to invest in green space 35 or in other forms of cooling 36 , 37 . A number of studies have now documented the so-called ‘luxury effect,’ wherein lower-income parts of cities tend to have less green space and, as a result, reduced biodiversity 38 , 39 . Where the luxury effect exists, green space and its benefits become, in essence, a luxury good 40 . If the luxury effect holds among cities, and lower-income cities also have smaller green spaces, the Global South may have the least potential to mitigate the combined effects of climate warming and urban heat islands, leading to exacerbated and rising inequalities in heat exposure 41 .

Here, we assess the global inequalities in the cooling capability of existing urban green infrastructure across urban areas worldwide. To this end, we use remotely sensed data to quantify three key variables, i.e., (1) cooling efficiency, (2) cooling capacity, and (3) cooling benefit of existing urban green infrastructure for ~500 major cities across the world. Urban green infrastructure and temperature are generally negatively and relatively linearly correlated at landscape scales, i.e., higher quantities of urban green infrastructure yield lower temperatures 42 , 43 . Cooling efficiency is widely used as a measure of the extent to which a given proportional increase in the area of urban green infrastructure leads to a decrease in temperature, i.e., the slope of the urban green infrastructure-temperature relationship 42 , 44 , 45 (see Methods for details). This simple metric allows quantifying the quality of urban green infrastructure in terms of ameliorating the urban heat island effect. Meanwhile, the extent to which existing urban green infrastructure cools down an entire city’s surface temperatures (compared to the non-vegetated built-up areas) is referred to as cooling capacity. Hence, cooling capacity is a function of the total quantity of urban green infrastructure and its cooling efficiency (see Methods).

As a third step, we account for the spatial distributions of urban green infrastructure and populations to quantify the benefit of cooling mitigation received by an average urban inhabitant in each city given their location. This cooling benefit is a more direct measure of the cooling realized by people, after accounting for the within-city geography of urban green infrastructure and population density. We focus on cooling capacity and cooling benefit as the measures of the cooling capability of individual cities for assessing their global inequalities. We are particularly interested in linking cooling adaptation inequality with income inequality 40 , 46 . While this can be achieved using existing income metrics for country classifications 47 , here we use the traditional Global North/South classification due to its historical ties to geography which is influential in climate research.

Results and discussion

Our analyses indicate that existing green infrastructure of an average city has a capability of cooling down surface temperatures by ~3 °C during warm seasons. However, a concerning disparity is evident; on average Global South cities have only two-thirds the cooling capacity and cooling benefit compared to Global North cities. This inequality is attributable to the differences in both quantity and quality of existing urban green infrastructure among cities. Importantly, we find that there exists considerable potential for many cities to enhance the cooling capability of their green infrastructure; achieving this potential could dramatically reduce global inequalities in adaptation to outdoor heat stress.

Quantifying cooling inequality

Our analyses showed that both the quantity and quality of the existing urban green infrastructure vary greatly among the world’s ~500 most populated cities (see Methods for details, and Fig.  1 for examples). The quantity of urban green infrastructure measured based on remotely sensed indicators of spectral greenness (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, NDVI, see Methods) had a coefficient of variation (CV) of 35%. Similarly, the quality of urban green infrastructure in terms of cooling efficiency (daytime land surface temperatures during peak summer) had a CV of 37% (Supplementary Figs.  1 , 2 ). The global mean value of cooling capacity is 2.9 °C; existing urban green infrastructure ameliorates warm-season heat stress by 2.9 °C of surface temperature in an average city. In truth, however, the variation in cooling capacity was great (global CV in cooling capacity as large as ~50%), such that few cities were average. This variation is strongly geographically structured. Cities closer to the equator - tropical and subtropical cities - tend to have relatively weak cooling capacities (Fig.  2a, b ). As Global South countries are predominantly located at low latitudes, this pattern leads to a situation in which Global South cities, which tend to be hotter and relatively lower-income, have, on average, approximately two-thirds the cooling capacity of the Global North cities (2.5 ± 1.0 vs. 3.6 ± 1.7°C, Wilcoxon test, p  = 2.7e-12; Fig.  2c ). The cities that most need to rely on green infrastructure are, at present, those that are least able to do so.

a , e , i , m , q Los Angeles, US. b , f , j , n , r Paris, France. c , g , k , o , s Shanghai, China. d , h , l , p , t Cairo, Egypt. Local cooling efficiency is calculated for different local climate zone types to account for within-city heterogeneity. In densely populated parts of cities, local cooling capacity tends to be lower due to reduced green space area, whereas local cooling benefit (local cooling capacity multiplied by a weight term of local population density relative to city mean) tends to be higher as more urban residents can receive cooling amelioration.

a Global distribution of cooling capacity for the 468 major urbanized areas. b Latitudinal pattern of cooling capacity. c Cooling capacity difference between the Global North and South cities. The cooling capacity offered by urban green infrastructure evinces a latitudinal pattern wherein lower-latitude cities have weaker cooling capacity ( b , cubic-spline fitting of cooling capacity with 95% confidence interval is shown), representing a significant inequality between Global North and South countries: city-level cooling capacity for Global North cities are about 1.5-fold higher than in Global South cities ( c ). Data are presented as box plots, where median values (center black lines), 25th percentiles (box lower bounds), 75th percentiles (box upper bounds), whiskers extending to 1.5-fold of the interquartile range (IQR), and outliers are shown. The tails of the cooling capacity distributions are truncated at zero as all cities have positive values of cooling capacity. Notice that no cities in the Global South have a cooling capacity greater than 5.5 °C ( c ). This is because no cities in the Global South have proportional green space areas as great as those seen in the Global North (see also Fig.  4b ). A similar pattern is found for cooling benefit (Supplementary Fig.  3 ). The two-sided non-parametric Wilcoxon test was used for statistical comparisons.

When we account for the locations of urban green infrastructure relative to humans within cities, the cooling benefit of urban green infrastructure realized by an average urban resident generally becomes slightly lower than suggested by cooling capacity (see Methods; Supplementary Fig.  3 ). Urban residents tend to be densest in the parts of cities with less green infrastructure. As a result, the average urban resident experiences less cooling amelioration than expected. However, this heterogeneity has only a minor effect on global-scale inequality. As a result, the geographic trends in cooling capacity and cooling benefit are similar: mean cooling benefit for an average urban resident also presents a 1.5-fold gap between Global South and North cities (2.2 ± 0.9 vs. 3.4 ± 1.7 °C, Wilcoxon test, p  = 3.2e-13; Supplementary Fig.  3c ). Urban green infrastructure is a public good that has the potential to help even the most marginalized populations stay cool; unfortunately, this public benefit is least available in the Global South. When walking outdoors, the average person in an average Global South city receives only two-thirds the cooling amelioration from urban green infrastructure experienced by a person in an average Global North city. The high cooling amelioration capacity and benefit of the Global North cities is heavily influenced by North America (specifically, Canada and the US), which have both the highest cooling efficiency and the largest area of green infrastructure, followed by Europe (Supplementary Fig.  4 ).

One way to illustrate the global inequality of cooling capacity or benefit is to separately look at the cities that are most and least effective in ameliorating outdoor heat stress. Our results showed that ~85% of the 50 most effective cities (with highest cooling capacity or cooling benefit) are located in the Global North, while ~80% of the 50 least effective are Global South cities (Fig.  3 , Supplementary Fig.  5 ). This is true without taking into account the differences in the background temperatures and climate warming of these cities, which will exacerbate the effects on human health; cities in the Global South are likely to be closer to the limits of human thermal comfort and even, increasingly, the limits of the temperatures and humidities (wet-bulb temperatures) at which humans can safely work or even walk, such that the ineffectiveness of green spaces in those cities in cooling will lead to greater negative effects on human health 48 , work 14 , and gross domestic product (GDP) 49 . In addition, Global South cities commonly have higher population densities (Fig.  3 , Supplementary Fig.  5 ) and are projected to have faster population growth 50 . This situation will plausibly intensify the urban heat island effect because of the need of those populations for housing (and hence tensions between the need for buildings and the need for green spaces). It will also increase the number of people exposed to extreme urban heat island effects. Therefore, it is critical to increase cooling benefit via expanding urban green spaces, so that more people can receive the cooling mitigation from a given new neighboring green space if they live closer to each other. Doing so will require policies that incentivize urban green spaces as well as architectural innovations that make innovations such as plant-covered buildings easier and cheaper to implement.

The axes on the right are an order of magnitude greater than those on the left, such that the cooling capacity of Charlotte in the United States is about 37-fold greater than that of Mogadishu (Somalia) and 29-fold greater than that of Sana’a (Yemen). The cities presenting lowest cooling capacities are most associated with Global South cities at higher population densities.

Of course, cities differ even within the Global North or within the Global South. For example, some Global South cities have high green space areas (or relatively high cooling efficiency in combination with moderate green space areas) and hence high cooling capacity. These cities, such as Pune (India), will be important to study in more detail, to shed light on the mechanistic details of their cooling abilities as well as the sociopolitical and other factors that facilitated their high green area coverage and cooling capabilities (Supplementary Figs.  6 , 7 ).

We conducted our primary analyses using a spatial grain of 100-m grid cells and Landsat NDVI data for quantifying spectral greenness. Our results, however, were robust at the coarser spatial grain of 1 km. We find a slightly larger global cooling inequality (~2-fold gap between Global South and North cities) at the 1-km grain using MODIS data (see Methods and Supplementary Fig.  17 ). MODIS data have been frequently used for quantifying urban heat island effects and cooling mitigation 44 , 45 , 51 . Our results reinforce its robustness for comparing urban thermal environments between cities across broad scales.

Influencing factors

The global inequality of cooling amelioration could have a number of proximate causes. To understand their relative influence, we first separately examined the effects of quality (cooling efficiency) and quantity (NDVI as a proxy indicator of urban green space area) of urban green infrastructure. The simplest null model is one in which cooling capacity (at the city scale) and cooling benefit (at the human scale) are driven primarily by the proportional area in a city dedicated to green spaces. Indeed, we found that both cooling capacity and cooling benefit were strongly correlated with urban green space area (Fig.  4 , Supplementary Fig.  8 ). This finding is useful with regards to practical interventions. In general, cities that invest in saving or restoring more green spaces will receive more cooling benefits from those green spaces. By contrast, differences among cities in cooling efficiency played a more minor role in determining the cooling capacity and benefit of cities (Fig.  4 , Supplementary Fig.  8 ).

a Relationship between cooling efficiency and cooling capacity. b Relationship between green space area (measured by mean Landsat NDVI in the hottest month of 2018) and cooling capacity. Note that the highest level of urban green space area in the Global South cities is much lower than that in the Global North (dashed line in b ). Gray bands indicate 95% confidence intervals. Two-sided t-tests were conducted. c A piecewise structural equation model based on assumed direct and indirect (through influencing cooling efficiency and urban green space area) effects of essential natural and socioeconomic factors on cooling capacity. Mean annual temperature and precipitation, and topographic variation (elevation range) are selected to represent basic background natural conditions; GDP per capita is selected to represent basic socioeconomic conditions. The spatial extent of built-up areas is included to correct for city size. A bi-directional relationship (correlation) is fitted between mean annual temperature and precipitation. Red and blue solid arrows indicate significantly negative and positive coefficients with p  ≤ 0.05, respectively. Gray dashed arrows indicate p  > 0.05. The arrow width illustrates the effect size. Similar relationships are found for cooling benefits realized by an average urban resident (see Supplementary Fig.  8 ).

A further question is what shapes the quality and quantity of urban green infrastructure (which in turn are driving cooling capacity)? Many inter-correlated factors are possibly operating at multiple scales, making it difficult to disentangle their effects, especially since experiment-based causal inference is usually not feasible for large-scale urban systems. From a macroscopic perspective, we test the simple hypothesis that the background natural and socioeconomic conditions of cities jointly affect their cooling capacity and benefit in both direct and indirect ways. To this end, we constructed a minimal structural equation model including only the most essential variables reflecting background climate (mean annual temperature and precipitation), topographic variation (elevation range), as well as gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and city area (see Methods; Fig.  4c ).

We found that the quantity of green spaces in a city (again, in proportion to its size) was positively correlated with GDP per capita and city area; wealthier cities have more green spaces. It is well known that wealth and green spaces are positively correlated within cities (the luxury effect) 40 , 46 ; our analysis shows that a similar luxury effect occurs among them at a global scale. In addition, larger cities often have proportionally more green spaces, an effect that may be due to the tendency for large cities (particularly in the US and Canada) to have lower population densities. Cities that were hotter and had more topographic variation tended to have fewer green spaces and those that were more humid tended to have more green spaces. Given that temperature and humidity are highly correlated with the geography of the Global South and Global North, it is difficult to know whether these effects are due to the direct effects of temperature and precipitation, for example, on the growth rate of vegetation and hence the transition of abandoned lots into green spaces, or are associated with historical, cultural and political differences that via various mechanisms correlate to climate. Our structural equation model explained only a small fraction of variation among cities in their cooling efficiency, which is to say the quality of their green space. Cooling efficiency was modestly influenced by background temperature and precipitation—the warmer a city, the greater the cooling efficiency in that city; conversely, the more humid a city the less the cooling efficiency of that city.

Our analyses suggested that the lower cooling adaptation capabilities of Global South cities can be explained by their lower quantity of green infrastructure and, to a much lesser extent, their weaker cooling efficiency (quality; Supplementary Fig.  2 ). These patterns appear to be in part structured by GDP, but are also associated with climatic conditions 39 , and other factors. A key question, unresolved by our work, is whether the climatic correlates of the size of green spaces in cities are due to the effects of climate per se or if they, instead, reflect correlates between contemporary climate and the social, cultural, and political histories of cities in the Global South 52 . Since urban planning has much inertia, especially in big cities, those choices might be correlated with climate because of the climatic correlates of political histories. It is also possible that these dynamics relate, in part, to the ways in which climate influences vegetation structure. However, this seems less likely given that under non-urban conditions vegetation cover (and hence cooling capacity) is normally positively correlated with mean annual temperature across the globe, opposite to our observed negative relationships for urban systems (Supplementary Fig.  9g ). Still, it is possible that increased temperatures in cities due to the urban heat island effects may lead to temperature-vegetation cover-cooling capacity relationships that differ from those in natural environments 53 , 54 . Indeed, a recent study found that climate warming will put urban forests at risk, and the risk is disproportionately higher in the Global South 55 .

Our model serves as a starting point for unraveling the mechanisms underlying global cooling inequality. We cannot rule out the possibility that other unconsidered factors correlated with the studied variables play important roles. We invite systematic studies incorporating detailed sociocultural and ecological variables to address this question across scales.

Potential of enhancing cooling and reducing inequality

Can we reduce the inequality in cooling capacity and benefits that we have discovered among the world’s largest cities? Nuanced assessments of the potential to improve cooling mitigation require comprehensive considerations of socioeconomic, cultural, and technological aspects of urban management and policy. It is likely that cities differ greatly in their capacity to implement cooling through green infrastructure, whether as a function of culture, governance, policy or some mix thereof. However, any practical attempts to achieve greater cooling will occur in the context of the realities of climate and existing land use. To understand these realities, we modeled the maximum additional cooling capacity that is possible in cities, given existing constraints. We assume that this capacity depends on the quality (cooling efficiency) and quantity of urban green infrastructure. Our approach provides a straightforward metric of the cooling that could be achieved if all parts of a city’s green infrastructure were to be enhanced systematically.

The positive outlook is that our analyses suggest a considerable potential of improving cooling capacity by optimizing urban green infrastructure. An obvious way is through increases in urban green infrastructure quantity. We employ an approach in which we consider each local climate zone 56 to have a maximum NDVI and cooling efficiency (see Methods). For a given local climate zone, the city with the largest NDVI values or cooling efficiency sets the regional upper bounds for urban green infrastructure quantities or quality that can be achieved. Notably, these maxima are below the maxima for forests or other non-urban spaces for the simple reason that, as currently imagined, cities must contain gray (non-green) spaces in the form of roads and buildings. In this context, we conduct a thought experiment. What if we could systematically increase NDVI of all grid cells in each city, per local climate zone type, to a level corresponding to the median NDVI of grid cells in that upper bound city while keeping cooling efficiency unchanged (see Methods). If we were able to achieve this goal, the cooling capacity of cities would increase by ~2.4 °C worldwide. The increase would be even greater, ~3.8°C, if the 90th percentile (within the reference maximum city) was reached (Fig.  5a ). The potential for cooling benefit to the average urban resident is similar to that of cooling capacity (Supplementary Fig.  10a ). There is also potential to reduce urban temperatures if we can enhance cooling efficiency. However, the benefits of increases in cooling efficiency are modest (~1.5 °C increases at the 90th percentile of regional upper bounds) when holding urban green infrastructure quantity constant. In theory, if we could maximize both quantity and cooling efficiency of urban green infrastructure (to 90th percentiles of their regional upper bounds respectively), we would yield increases in cooling capacity and benefit up to ~10 °C, much higher than enhancing green space area or cooling efficiency alone (Fig.  5a , Supplementary Fig.  10a ). Notably, such co-maximization of green space area and cooling efficiency would substantially reduce global inequality to Gini <0.1 (Fig.  5b , Supplementary Fig.  10b ). Our analyses thus provide an important suggestion that enhancing both green space quantity and quality can yield a synergistic effect leading to much larger gains than any single aspect alone.

a The potential of enhancing cooling capacity via either enhancing urban green infrastructure quality (i.e., cooling efficiency) while holding quantity (i.e., green space area) fixed (yellow), or enhancing quantity while holding quality fixed (blue) is much lower than that of enhancing both quantity and quality (green). The x-axis indicates the targets of enhancing urban green infrastructure quantity and/or quality relative to the 50–90th percentiles of NDVI or cooling efficiency, see Methods). The dashed horizontal lines indicate the median cooling capacity of current cities. Data are presented as median values with the colored bands corresponding to 25–75th percentiles. b The potential of reducing cooling capacity inequality is also higher when enhancing both urban green infrastructure quantity and quality. The Gini index weighted by population density is used to measure inequality. Similar results were found for cooling benefit (Supplementary Fig.  10 ).

Different estimates of cooling capacity potential may be reached based on varying estimates and assumptions regarding the maximum possible quantity and quality of urban green infrastructure. There is no single, simple way to make these estimates, especially considering the huge between-city differences in society, culture, and structure across the globe. Our example case (above) begins from the upper bound city’s median NDVI, taking into account different local climate zone types and background climate regions (regional upper bounds). This is based on the assumption that for cities within the same climate regions, their average green space quantity may serve as an attainable target. Still, urban planning is often made at the level of individual cities, often only implemented to a limited extent and made with limited consideration of cities in other regions and countries. A potentially more realistic reference may be taken from the existing green infrastructure (again, per local climate zone type) within each particular city itself (see Methods): if a city’s sparsely vegetated areas was systematically elevated to the levels of 50–90th percentiles of NDVI within their corresponding local climate zones within the city, cooling capacity would still increase, but only by 0.5–1.5 °C and with only slightly reduced inequalities among cities (Supplementary Fig.  11 ). This highlights that ambitious policies, inspired by the greener cities worldwide, are necessary to realize the large cooling potential in urban green infrastructure.

In summary, our results demonstrate clear inequality in the extent to which urban green infrastructure cools cities and their denizens between the Global North and South. Much attention has been paid to the global inequality of indoor heat adaptation arising from the inequality of resources (e.g., less affordable air conditioning and more frequent power shortages in the Global South) 36 , 57 , 58 , 59 . Our results suggest that the inequality in outdoor adaptation is particularly concerning, especially as urban populations in the Global South are growing rapidly and are likely to face the most severe future temperature extremes 60 .

Previous studies have been focusing on characterizing urban heat island effects, urban vegetation patterns, resident exposure, and cooling effects in particular cities 26 , 28 , 34 , 61 , regions 22 , 25 , 62 , or continents 32 , 44 , 63 . Recent studies start looking at global patterns with respect to cooling efficiency or green space exposure 35 , 45 , 64 , 65 . Our approach is one drawn from the fields of large-scale ecology and macroecology. This approach is complementary to and, indeed, can, in the future, be combined with (1) mechanism driven biophysical models 66 , 67 to predict the influence of the composition and climate of green spaces on their cooling efficiency, (2) social theory aimed at understanding the factors that govern the amount of green space in cities as well as the disparity among cities 68 , (3) economic models of the effects of policy changes on the amount of greenspace and even (4) artist-driven projects that seek to understand the ways in which we might reimagine future cities 69 . Our simple explanatory model is, ultimately, one lens on a complex, global phenomenon.

Our results convey some positive outlook in that there is considerable potential to strengthen the cooling capability of cities and to reduce inequalities in cooling capacities at the same time. Realizing this nature-based solution, however, will be challenging. First, enhancing urban green infrastructure requires massive investments, which are more difficult to achieve in Global South cities. Second, it also requires smart planning strategies and advanced urban design and greening technologies 37 , 70 , 71 , 72 . Spatial planning of urban green spaces needs to consider not only the cooling amelioration effect, but also their multifunctional aspects that involve multiple ecosystem services, mental health benefits, accessibility, and security 73 . In theory, a city can maximize its cooling while also maximizing density through the combination of high-density living, ground-level green spaces, and vertical and rooftop gardens (or even forests). In practice, the current cities with the most green spaces tend to be lower-density cities 74 (Supplementary Fig.  12 ). Still, innovation and implementation of new technologies that allow green spaces and high-density living to be combined have the potential to reduce or disconnect the negative relationship between green space area and population density 71 , 75 . However, this development has yet to be realized. Another dimension of green spaces that deserves more attention is the geography of green spaces relative to where people are concentrated within cities. A critical question is how best should we distribute green spaces within cities to maximize cooling efficiency 76 and minimize within-city cooling inequality towards social equity 77 ? Last but not least, it is crucial to design and manage urban green spaces to be as resilient as possible to future climate stress 78 . For many cities, green infrastructure is likely to remain the primary means people will have to rely on to mitigate the escalating urban outdoor heat stress in the coming decades 79 .

We used the world population data from the World’s Cities in 2018 Data Booklet 80 to select 502 major cities with population over 1 million people (see Supplementary Data  1 for the complete list of the studied cities). Cities are divided into the Global North and Global South based on the Human Development Index (HDI) from the Human Development Report 2019 81 . For each selected city, we used the 2018 Global Artificial Impervious Area (GAIA) data at 30 m resolution 82 to determine its geographic extent. The derived urban boundary polygons thus encompass a majority of the built-up areas and urban residents. In using this approach, rather than urban administrative boundaries, we can focus on the relatively densely populated areas where cooling mitigation is most needed, and exclude areas dominated by (semi) natural landscapes that may bias the subsequent quantifications of the cooling effect. Our analyses on the cooling effect were conducted at the 100 m spatial resolution using Landsat data and WorldPop Global Project Population Data of 2018 83 . In order to test for the robustness of the results to coarser spatial scales, we also repeated the analyses at 1 km resolution using MODIS data, which have been extensively used for quantifying urban heat island effects and cooling mitigation 44 , 45 , 51 . We discarded the five cities with sizes <30 km 2 as they were too small for us to estimate their cooling efficiency based on linear regression (see section below for details). We combined closely located cities that form contiguous urban areas or urban agglomerations, if their urban boundary polygons from GAIA merged (e.g., Phoenix and Mesa in the United States were combined). Our approach yielded 468 polygons, each representing a major urbanized area that were the basis for all subsequent analyses. Because large water bodies can exert substantial and confounding cooling effects, we excluded permanent water bodies including lakes, reservoirs, rivers, and oceans using the Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS) Land Cover data for 2018 at 10 m resolution 84 .

Quantifying the cooling effect

As a first step, we calculated cooling efficiency for each studied city within the GAIA-derived urban boundary. Cooling efficiency quantifies the extent to which a given area of green spaces in a city can reduce temperatures. It is a measure of the effectiveness (quality) of urban green spaces in terms of heat amelioration. Cooling efficiency is typically measured by calculating the slope of the relationship between remotely-sensed land surface temperature (LST) and vegetation cover through ordinary least square regression 42 , 44 , 45 . It is known that cooling efficiency varies between cities. Influencing factors might include background climate 29 , species composition 30 , 85 , landscape configuration 28 , topography 86 , proximity to large water bodies 33 , 87 , urban morphology 88 , and city management practices 31 . However, the mechanism underlying the global pattern of cooling efficiency remains unclear.

We used Landsat satellite data provided by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) to calculate the cooling efficiency of each studied city. We used the cloud-free Landsat 8 Level 2 LST and NDVI data. For each city we calculated the mean LST in each month of 2018 to identify the hottest month, and then derived the hottest month LST; we used the cloud-free Landsat 8 data to calculate the mean NDVI for the hottest month correspondingly.

We quantified cooling efficiency for different local climate zones 56 separately for each city, to account for within-city variability of thermal environments. To this end, we used the Copernicus Global Land Service data (CGLS) 84 and Global Human Settlement Layers (GHSL) Built-up height data 89 of 2018 at the 100 m resolution to identify five types of local climate zones: non-tree vegetation (shrubs, herbaceous vegetation, and cultivated vegetation according to the CGLS classification system), low-rise buildings (built up and bare according to the CGLS classification system, with building heights ≤10 m according to the GHSL data), medium-high-rise buildings (built up and bare areas with building heights >10 m), open tree cover (open forest with tree cover 15–70% according to the CGLS system), and closed tree cover (closed forest with tree cover >70%).

For each local climate zone type in each city, we constructed a regression model with NDVI as the predictor variable and LST as the response variable (using the ordinary least square method). We took into account the potential confounding factors including topographic elevation (derived from MERIT DEM dataset 90 ), building height (derived from the GHSL dataset 89 ), and distance to water bodies (derived from the GSHHG dataset 91 ), the model thus became: LST ~ NDVI + topography + building height + distance to water. Cooling efficiency was calculated as the absolute value of the regression coefficient of NDVI, after correcting for those confounding factors. To account for the multi-collinearity issue, we conducted variable selection based on the variance inflation factor (VIF) to achieve VIF < 5. Before the analysis, we discarded low-quality Landsat pixels, and filtered out the pixels with NDVI < 0 (normally less than 1% in a single city). Cooling efficiency is known to be influenced by within-city heterogeneity 92 , 93 , and, as a result, might sometimes better fit non-linear relationships at local scales 65 , 76 . However, our central aim is to assess global cooling inequality based on generalized relationships that fit the majority of global cities. Previous studies have shown that linear relationships can do this job 42 , 44 , 45 , therefore, here we used linear models to assess cooling efficiency.

As a second step, we calculated the cooling capacity of each city. Cooling capacity is a positive function of the magnitude of cooling efficiency and the proportional area of green spaces in a city and is calculated based on NDVI and the derived cooling efficiency (Eq.  1 , Supplementary Fig.  13 ):

where CC lcz and CE lcz are the cooling capacity and cooling efficiency for a given local climate zone type in a city, respectively; NDVI i is the mean NDVI for 100-m grid cell i ; NDVI min is the minimum NDVI across the city; and n is the total number of grid cells within the local climate zone. Local cooling capacity for each grid cell i (Fig.  1 , Supplementary Fig.  7 ) can be derived in this way as well (Supplementary Fig.  13 ). For a particular city, cooling capacity may be dependent on the spatial configuration of its land use/cover 28 , 94 , but here we condensed cooling capacity to city average (Eq.  2 ), thus did not take into account these local-scale factors.

where CC is the average cooling capacity of a city; n lcz is the number of grid cells of the local climate zone; m is the total number of grid cells within the whole city.

As a third step, we calculated the cooling benefit realized by an average urban resident (cooling benefit in short) in each city. Cooling benefit depends not only on the cooling capacity of a city, but also on where people live within a city relative to greener or grayer areas of the city. For example, cooling benefits in a city might be low even if the cooling capacity is high if the green parts and the dense-population parts of a city are inversely correlated. Here, we are calculating these averages while aware that in any particular city the exposure of a particular person will depend on the distribution of green spaces in a city, and the occupation, movement trajectories of a person, etc. On the scale of a city, we calculated cooling benefit following a previous study 35 , that is, simply adding a weight term of population size per 100-m grid cell into cooling capacity in Eq. ( 1 ):

Where CB lcz is the cooling benefit of a given local climate zone type in a specific city, pop i is the number of people within grid cell i , \(\overline{{pop}}\) is the mean population of the city.

Where CB is the average cooling benefit of a city. The population data were obtained from the 100-m resolution WorldPop Global Project Population Data of 2018 83 . Local cooling benefit for a given grid cell i can be calculated in a similar way, i.e., local cooling capacity multiplied by a weight term of local population density relative to mean population density. Local cooling benefits were mapped for example cities for the purpose of illustrating the effect of population spatial distribution (Fig.  1 , Supplementary Fig.  7 ), but their patterns were not examined here.

Based on the aforementioned three key variables quantified at 100 m grid cells, we conducted multivariate analyses to examine if and to what extent cooling efficiency and cooling benefit are shaped by essential natural and socioeconomic factors, including background climate (mean annual temperature from ECMWF ERA5 dataset 95 and precipitation from TerraClimate dataset 96 ), topography (elevation range 90 ), and GDP per capita 97 , with city size (geographic extent) corrected for. We did not include humidity because it is strongly correlated with temperature and precipitation, causing serious multi-collinearity problems. We used piecewise structural equation modeling to test the direct effects of these factors and indirect effects via influencing cooling efficiency and vegetation cover (Fig.  4c , Supplementary Fig.  8c ). To account for the potential influence of spatial autocorrelation, we used spatially autoregressive models (SAR) to test for the robustness of the observed effects of natural and socioeconomic factors on cooling capacity and benefit (Supplementary Fig.  14 ).

Testing for robustness

We conducted the following additional analyses to test for robustness. We obtained consistent results from these robustness analyses.

(1) We looked at the mean hottest-month LST and NDVI within 3 years (2017-2019) to check the consistency between the results based on relatively short (1 year) vs. long (3-year average) time periods (Supplementary Fig.  15 ).

(2) We carried out the approach at a coarser spatial scale of 1 km, using MODIS-derived NDVI and LST, as well as the population data 83 in the hottest month of 2018. In line with our finer-scale analysis of Landsat data, we selected the hottest month and excluded low-quality grids affected by cloud cover and water bodies 98 (water cover > 20% in 1 × 1 km 2 grid cells) of MODIS LST, and calculated the mean NDVI for the hottest month. We ultimately obtained 441 cities (or urban agglomerations) for analysis. At the 1 km resolution, some local climate zone types would yield insufficient samples for constructing cooling efficiency models. Therefore, instead of identifying local climate zone explicitly, we took an indirect approach to account for local climate confounding factors, that is, we constructed a multiple regression model for a whole city incorporating the hottest-month local temperature 95 , precipitation 96 , and humidity (based on NASA FLDAS dataset 99 ), albedo (derived from the MODIS MCD43A3 product 100 ), aerosol loading (derived from the MODIS MCD19A2 product 101 ), wind speed (based on TerraClimate dataset 96 ), topography elevation 90 , distance to water 91 , urban morphology (building height 102 ), and human activity intensity (VIIRS nighttime light data as a proxy indicator 103 ). We used the absolute value of the linear regression coefficient of NDVI as the cooling efficiency of the whole city (model: LST ~ NDVI + temperature + precipitation + humidity + distance to water + topography + building height + albedo + aerosol + wind speed + nighttime light), and calculated cooling capacity and cooling benefit based on the same method. Variable selection was conducted using the criterion of VIF < 5.

Our results indicated that MODIS-based cooling capacity and cooling benefit are significantly correlated with the Landsat-based counterparts (Supplementary Fig.  16 ); importantly, the gap between the Global South and North cities is around two-fold, close to the result from the Landsat-based result (Supplementary Fig.  17 ).

(3) For the calculation of cooling benefit, we considered different spatial scales of human accessibility to green spaces: assuming the population in each 100 × 100 m 2 grid cell could access to green spaces within neighborhoods of certain extents, we calculated cooling benefit by replacing NDVI i in Eq. ( 3 ) with mean NDVI within the 300 × 300 m 2 and 500 × 500 m 2 extents centered at the focal grid cell (Supplementary Fig.  18 ).

(4) Considering cities may vary in minimum NDVI, we assessed if this variation could affect resulting cooling capacity patterns. To this end, we calculated the cooling capacity for each studied city using NDVI = 0 as the reference (i.e., using NDVI = 0 instead of minimum NDVI in Supplementary Fig.  13b ), and correlated it with that using minimum NDVI as the reference (Supplementary Fig.  19 ).

Quantifying between-city inequality

Inequalities in access to the benefits of green spaces in cities exist within cities, as is increasingly well-documented 104 . Here, we focus instead on the inequalities among cities. We used the Gini coefficient to measure the inequality in cooling capacity and cooling benefit between all studied cities across the globe as well as between Global North or South cities. We calculated Gini using the population-density weighted method (Fig.  5b ), as well as the unweighted and population-size weighted methods (Supplementary Fig.  20 ).

Estimating the potential for more effective and equal cooling amelioration

We estimated the potential of enhancing cooling amelioration based on the assumptions that urban green space quality (cooling efficiency) and quantity (NDVI) can be increased to different levels, and that relative spatial distributions of green spaces and population can be idealized (so that their spatial matches can maximize cooling benefit). We assumed that macro-climate conditions act as the constraints of vegetation cover and cooling efficiency. We calculated the 50th, 60th, 70th, 80th, and 90th percentiles of NDVI within each type of local climate zone of each city. For a given local climate zone type, we obtained the city with the highest NDVI per percentile value as the regional upper bounds of urban green infrastructure quantity. The regional upper bounds of cooling efficiency are derived in a similar way. For each local climate zone in a city, we generated a potential NDVI distribution where all grid cells reach the regional upper bound values for the 50th, 60th, 70th, 80th, or 90th percentile of urban green space quantity or quality, respectively. NDVI values below these percentiles were increased, whereas those above these percentiles remained unchanged. The potential estimates are essentially dependent on the references, i.e., the optimal cooling efficiency and NDVI that a given city can reach. However, such references are obviously difficult to determine, because complex natural and socioeconomic conditions could play important roles in determining those cooling optima, and the dominant factors are unknown at a global scale. We employed the simplifying assumption that background climate could act as an essential constraint according to our results. We therefore used the Köppen climate classification system 105 to determine the reference separately in each climate region (tropical, arid, temperate, and continental climate regions were involved for all studied cities).

We calculated potential cooling capacity and cooling benefit based on these potential NDVI maps (Fixed cooling efficiency in Fig.  5 ). We then calculated the potentials if cooling efficiency of each city can be enhanced to 50–90th percentile across all urban local climate zones within the corresponding biogeographic region (Fixed green space area in Fig.  5 ). We also calculated the potentials if both NDVI and cooling efficiency were enhanced (Enhancing both in Fig.  5) to a certain corresponding level (i.e., i th percentile NDVI +  i th percentile cooling efficiency). We examined if there are additional effects of idealizing relative spatial distributions of urban green spaces and humans on cooling benefits. To this end, the pixel values of NDVI or population amount remained unchanged, but their one-to-one correspondences were based on their ranking: the largest population corresponds to the highest NDVI, and so forth. Under each scenario, we calculated cooling capacity and cooling benefit for each city, and the between-city inequality was measured by the Gini coefficient.

We used the Google Earth Engine to process the spatial data. The statistical analyses were conducted using R v4.3.3 106 , with car v3.1-2 107 , piecewiseSEM v2.1.2 108 , and ineq v0.2-13 109 packages. The global maps of cooling were created using the ArcGIS v10.3 software.

Reporting summary

Further information on research design is available in the  Nature Portfolio Reporting Summary linked to this article.

Data availability

City population statistics data is collected from the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations ( https://www.un.org/development/desa/pd/content/worlds-cities-2018-data-booklet ). Global North-South division is based on Human Development Report 2019 which from United Nations Development Programme ( https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2019 ). Global urban boundaries from GAIA data are available from Star Cloud Data Service Platform ( https://data-starcloud.pcl.ac.cn/resource/14 ) . Global water data is derived from 2018 Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLS 100-m) data ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/COPERNICUS_Landcover_100m_Proba-V-C3_Global ), European Space Agency (ESA) WorldCover 10 m 2020 product ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/ESA_WorldCover_v100 ), and GSHHG (A Global Self-consistent, Hierarchical, High-resolution Geography Database) at https://www.soest.hawaii.edu/pwessel/gshhg/ . Landsat 8 LST and NDVI data with 30 m resolution are available at  https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/LANDSAT_LC08_C02_T1_L2 . Land surface temperature (LST) data with 1 km from MODIS Aqua product (MYD11A1) is available at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/MODIS_061_MYD11A1 . NDVI (1 km) dataset from MYD13A2 is available at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/MODIS_061_MYD13A2 . Population data (100 m) is derived from WorldPop ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/WorldPop_GP_100m_pop ). Local climate zones are also based on 2018 CGLS data ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/COPERNICUS_Landcover_100m_Proba-V-C3_Global ), and built-up height data is available from Global Human Settlement Layers (GHSL, 100 m) ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/JRC_GHSL_P2023A_GHS_BUILT_H ). Temperature data is calculated from ERA5-Land Monthly Aggregated dataset ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/ECMWF_ERA5_LAND_MONTHLY_AGGR ). Precipitation and wind data are calculated from TerraClimate (Monthly Climate and Climatic Water Balance for Global Terrestrial Surfaces, University of Idaho) ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/IDAHO_EPSCOR_TERRACLIMATE ). Humidity data is calculated from Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/NASA_FLDAS_NOAH01_C_GL_M_V001 ). Topography data from MERIT DEM (Multi-Error-Removed Improved-Terrain DEM) product is available at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/MERIT_DEM_v1_0_3 . GDP from Gross Domestic Product and Human Development Index dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.dk1j0 . VIIRS nighttime light data is available at https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/NOAA_VIIRS_DNB_MONTHLY_V1_VCMSLCFG . City building volume data from Global 3D Building Structure (1 km) is available at https://doi.org/10.34894/4QAGYL . Albedo data is derived from the MODIS MCD43A3 product ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/MODIS_061_MCD43A3 ), and aerosol data is derived from the MODIS MCD19A2 product ( https://developers.google.com/earth-engine/datasets/catalog/MODIS_061_MCD19A2_GRANULES ). All data used for generating the results are publicly available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.26340592.v1 .

Code availability

The codes used for data collection and analyses are publicly available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.26340592.v1 .

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Acknowledgements

We thank all the data providers. We thank Marten Scheffer for valuable discussion. C.X. is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 32061143014). J.-C.S. was supported by Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), funded by Danish National Research Foundation (grant DNRF173), and his VILLUM Investigator project “Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World”, funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant 16549). W.Z. was supported by the National Science Foundation of China through Grant No. 42225104. T.M.L. and J.F.A. are supported by the Open Society Foundations (OR2021-82956). W.J.R. is supported by the funding received from Roger Worthington.

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Y.L., S.N.T., R.R.D., and C.X. designed the study. Y.L. collected the data, generated the code, performed the analyses, and produced the figures with inputs from J.-C.S., W.Z., K.Z., J.F.A., T.M.L., W.J.R., Z.Y., S.N.T., R.R.D. and C.X. Y.L., S.N.T., R.R.D. and C.X. wrote the first draft with inputs from J.-C.S., W.Z., K.Z., J.F.A., T.M.L., W.J.R., and Z.Y. All coauthors interpreted the results and revised the manuscript.

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Essential livelihood recovery interventions (LRIs) for urban development-induced rural displacement and resettlement in India: a Delphi technique

• Published: 06 September 2024

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• Ishkiran Singh   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-4584-3629 1 &
• Soumi Muhuri 2  

Livelihood recovery, a well-researched issue while a natural disaster, has often been overlooked in the case of other man-made disasters, such as displacement and resettlement caused by urban development projects. Although government institutions/organizations initiated various interventions to combat the externalities of such projects and make the affected people more resilient, a holistic approach is lacking. This study attempts to identify livelihood recovery interventions (LRIs) based on different mechanisms of livelihood resilience for the people affected by urban development projects. Following a literature review and field visit, an initial list of seventy-three LRIs under fifteen mechanisms was prepared. Then, a panel of experts from India was invited to participate in a Delphi technique to check the interventions’ applicability and determine additional context-specific interventions to attain livelihood resilience in the Indian context. The results show that maximum interventions related to (i) empowering the people in rural areas, especially for their active participation in the implementation of the development project; (ii) additional facilities to reduce outmigration; (iii) long-term strategies by the government to achieve sustainability are the most relevant, as gained the consensus with aggregate preference 90%, in three rounds of Delphi. These results highlight the directions for policy-makers and planners in designing and managing livelihood recovering activities to achieve livelihood resilience.

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Acknowledgements

We sincerely thank the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela, for providing the necessary facilities and the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), India, for funding the research program at the Institute. We also want to acknowledge the following experts who participated in all three rounds of this Delphi study and provided their valuable opinions: Areef Akaram Akhtar, Ashish Roy, Bhaskar Gajendra, Cijo Joseph, Darbar Singh Dahire, Deepak Jayant, Ganesh Choudhury, Jublee Majumdar, Kamlesh Das, Manas Haldhar, Mohammed Shahil, Mukesh Kumar Shankhwar, Piyoosh Singh, Priya Choudhary, Rahul Sai, Rupendra Kavi, Sandeep Bangde, Sandhyatara Saha, Sanghamitra Basu, Sanjeev Kumar Mahato, Satyaki Sarkar, Seemita Mohanty, and Vineet Nair.

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Singh, I., Muhuri, S. Essential livelihood recovery interventions (LRIs) for urban development-induced rural displacement and resettlement in India: a Delphi technique. Environ Dev Sustain (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-024-05371-1

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Post-occupancy evaluation of the improved old residential neighborhood satisfaction using principal component analysis: the case of wuxi, china.

1. Introduction

1.1. research background, 1.2. post-occupancy evaluation, 2. materials and methods, 2.1. study site, 2.2. sampling, 2.3. data collection, 2.3.1. survey instruments and procedure, 2.3.2. ethical considerations, 2.4. data analysis, 2.5. principal component analysis (pca), 3.1. residents’ socioeconomic characteristics, 3.2. main factors, 4. discussion, 4.1. outdoor recreation, 4.2. transport facilities and small parks, 4.3. public service facilities, 4.4. natural environment condition, 4.5. social and human environment, 4.6. safety and security, 4.7. infrastructure and entrance structures, 4.8. public environment and waste facilities, 4.9. limitation of the study, 5. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Share and Cite

Zhao, J.; Abdul Aziz, F.; Cheng, Z.; Ujang, N.; Zhang, H.; Xu, J.; Xiao, Y.; Shi, L. Post-Occupancy Evaluation of the Improved Old Residential Neighborhood Satisfaction Using Principal Component Analysis: The Case of Wuxi, China. ISPRS Int. J. Geo-Inf. 2024 , 13 , 318. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi13090318

Zhao J, Abdul Aziz F, Cheng Z, Ujang N, Zhang H, Xu J, Xiao Y, Shi L. Post-Occupancy Evaluation of the Improved Old Residential Neighborhood Satisfaction Using Principal Component Analysis: The Case of Wuxi, China. ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information . 2024; 13(9):318. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi13090318

Zhao, Jing, Faziawati Abdul Aziz, Ziyi Cheng, Norsidah Ujang, Hui Zhang, Jiajun Xu, Yi Xiao, and Lin Shi. 2024. "Post-Occupancy Evaluation of the Improved Old Residential Neighborhood Satisfaction Using Principal Component Analysis: The Case of Wuxi, China" ISPRS International Journal of Geo-Information 13, no. 9: 318. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijgi13090318

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