Influence of new town development on the urban heat island – The case of the Bundang area

Article type: Research Article

Authors: SONG, Young-bae

Affiliations: School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture and Civil Engineering, Sung Kyun Kwan University, Korea

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: ybs2000@empal.com

Abstract: Five new towns have been developed around the Seoul metropolitan area since 1996. However, these new towns generate lots of traffic and related problems in the areas including those new towns and Seoul as a result of increases in population and a lack of ecological-self-sufficiency. Currently, construction of another new town is under deliberation, and what should be a major consider is the notion that the new town be located within a wide, green zone. Many studies have revealed that green space can play an important role in improving urban eco-meteorological capability and air quality. In order to analyze the urban heat island which will be created by the new urban development, and to investigate the local thermal environment and its negative effects caused by a change of land use type and urbanization, Landsat TM images were used for extraction of urban surface temperature according to changes of land use over the last 15 years. These data are analyzed together with digital land use and topographic information. As a study result, it was found the urban heat island of the study area from 1985 to 1999 rapidly developed which showed a difference of mean temperature above +2.0. Before the Bundang new town construction the temperature of the residential area was the same as a forest, but during the new town construction in 1991 analysis revealed the creation of an urban heat island. The temperature of a forest whose size is over 50% of the investigation area was lowest, and thus the presence of a forest is believed to have a direct cooling effect on the urban environment and its surroundings. The mean temperature of the residential and commercial areas in the study was found to be +4.5 higher than the forest, and therefore this part of land use is believed to be the main factor causing the temperature increase of the urban heat island.

Keywords: urban heat island, new town development, urban climate, landsat TM hand 6, air corridor

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 641-645, 2005