Investigating the Impact of Heat Stress and Green Space Accessibility for At-Risk Communities

This work addresses the urban heat island issue and its impact on vulnerable populations in cities. Urban heat islands refer to the phenomenon where temperatures in builtup areas exceed those of surrounding rural regions due to the absorption and retention of heat by built-up surfaces and the lack of vegetation. The study focuses on Milan and uses data from Daytime Near-Surface Air Temperature estimates and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index to assess accessibility to green spaces during an extreme heat event. The goal is to establish a practical approach for assessing urban areas that are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat and have low accessibility to possible ‘urban cool islands’ to inform climate-proof urban planning, design, and policies and promote equitable access to green spaces. The methodology involves constructing a 3x3 table containing nine classes based on matrix logic, representing different degrees of thermal perception-based accessibility to green. The results of this study could be used to prioritize interventions to increase thermal comfort and achieve a more sustainable urban environment.