Urban Heat Island phenomenon in Tehran: A review of relevant drivers and mitigation strategies

In highly structured environments, like urban areas, there are several impacts for both environment and humans. The number of hot days is increasing in many urban areas all over the word due to global climate change and heat island phenomenon. High air temperature significantly affect human thermal comfort and public health, especially in urban regions. Urban heat island (UHI) is one of the most important issue in the 21st century posed to human beings because of industrialization and urbanization of human civilization. Urbanization is a major cause of changes in the properties of local climate. Studies indicate that rural areas, compared to urban areas with more artificial surfaces, register lower local temperature. Tehran is one of the most densely populated cities in Iran and the majority of its population residing in densely built high-rise buildings are experiencing some degrees of thermal discomfort. This article aims to provide a review of recent studies on Tehran s UHI characteristics as well as relevant drivers and some feasible mitigation strategies in order to reduce air temperature, energy consumption, CO2 emissions, and to enhance outdoor thermal comfort.

Keywords:

Urban Heat Island (UHI) , sustainable urban planning , land architecture , heat mitigation strategies , energy consumption , thermal comfort