On the effects of landscape configuration on summer diurnal temperatures in urban residential areas: application in Phoenix, AZ

Abstract

The impacts of land-cover composition on urban temperatures, including temperature extremes, are well documented. Much less attention has been devoted to the consequences of land-cover configuration, most of which addresses land surface temperatures. This study explores the role of both composition and configuration—or land system architecture—of residential neighborhoods in the Phoenix metropolitan area, on near-surface air temperature. It addresses two-dimensional, spatial attributes of buildings, impervious surfaces, bare soil/rock, vegetation and the “urbanscape” at large, from 50 m to 550 m at 100 m increments, for a representative 30-day high sun period. Linear mixed-effects models evaluate the significance of land system architecture metrics at different spatial aggregation levels. The results indicate that, controlling for land-cover composition and geographical variables, land-cover configuration, specifically the fractal dimension of buildings, is significantly associated with near-surface temperatures. In addition, statistically significant predictors related to composition and configuration appear to depend on the adopted level of spatial aggregation.

Keywords

land system architecture / urban heat island effect / linear mixed-effects models / near-surface air temperature / land-cover configuration

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Acknowledgements

The Environmental Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics Labratory of the School of Geographic Science and Urban Planning provided the land-cover data. The National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant No. BCS-1026865, Central Arizona–Phoenix Long-Term Ecological Research (CAP LTER), NSF Grant No. SES-0951366, Decision Center for a Desert City II, NSF-DNS Grant No. 1419593, and USDA NIFA Grant No. 2015-67003-23508 provided support. In addition to the aforementioned organizations, we would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers and the editor for their insightful comments and suggestions.

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