Effects of urban green areas on air temperature in a medium-sized Argentinian city

Urban Farm DB summary

Using digital sensors at eight sites in Rosario, Argentina, from September 2013 to August 2014 — three unvegetated sites in the city center, one city-center site with street trees, one urban agriculture site, one public park, and two peri-urban agricultural sites — this study measured air temperature and, defining a comfort range of 18–24°C, analyzed how different green areas used for urban and peri-urban agriculture and forestry (UPAF) affect daily temperature and cooling/heating requirements. Air temperature in the unvegetated city center was higher than at other vegetated sites during both day and night, except at the city-center site with street trees. Temperature effects in the roughly 0.2-hectare urban agriculture garden were similar to those of the larger, 2–3-hectare parks and gardens. Based on cooling degree days, three UPAF types were classified with progressively lower cooling demand — (1) treeless city center, (2) city center with street trees and public parks, and (3) urban and peri-urban agriculture areas — with the opposite ranking found for heating degree days. The authors state the results can inform the integration of UPAF measures into climate-change mitigation and urban planning policy in medium-sized cities in the developing world.