A Comprehensive Review of Different Types of Green Infrastructure to Mitigate Urban Heat Islands: Progress, Functions, and Benefits

Abstract

Climate change and rapid urbanization increase/amplify urban heat islands (UHIs). Green infrastructure (GI) is an effective and popularly strategy used to moderate UHIs. This paper aims to better understand the progress of different GI types (urban parks, urban forests, street trees, green roofs, green walls) in mitigating UHIs, and what benefits they provide. Firstly, this paper used CiteSpace to analyze 1243 publications on the Web of Science from 1990 to 2021, then analyzed the function/regulation of ecosystem services/benefits and values of GI types in reducing UHIs. The historical review results show that research on all GI types showed rapid growth since 2013, and their GR increased rapidly. The highest-ranking keywords were urban heat island/heat island, climate/climate change/microclimate, and temperature/land surface temperature/air temperature. “Design,” “vegetation,” “quality,” and “reduction” are the top four strongest keyword bursts. The most published countries are the People’s Republic of China, USA, Australia, Germany, and Italy, and the top three institutions are the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Arizona State University, and the National University of Singapore. Landscape and Urban Planning, Building and Environment, Energy and Building, and Urban Forestry and Urban Greening are the most published journals. In urban areas, different GI types as a form of ecosystem hardware provide multiple functions (reduced land surface temperatures, lower building energy usage, improved thermal comfort and enhanced human health, reduced morbidity and mortality, etc.). GI thus provides a regulated ecosystem service to ameliorate UHIs primarily through temperature regulation and shade. At the same time, GI provides benefits and values (ecological, economic, social, and cultural) to humans and urban sustainable development. GI types determine the functions they provide, afford corresponding regulated ecosystem services, and provide benefits and values in a logical/recycle system. Overall, this review highlights the development and importance of GI, as well as the relationship of GI types and functions of regulating the ecosystem service benefits and values to mitigate UHI, and advances the study of climate change adaptation in cities.