The Spatial Pattern and Mechanism of Thermal Environment in Urban Blocks from the Perspective of Green Space Fractal

Abstract

Land resources in cities are limited, and the cost of green space construction is high. Compared with increasing the amount of green space, maximizing the cooling effect of limited green space has important theoretical and practical significance. Green fractal is a new innovative branch of urban fractal that uses a fractal index to quantify the green space structural index in studying the thermal environmental effect. Multi-source data, such as high-resolution remote sensing images, were used, and spatial regression models and inconsistency indices were applied to explore the spatial pattern of the urban thermal environment at the block scale, and the mechanism of green space fractal characteristics in terms of correlation and spatial heterogeneity, to assess the quality of green space development. This study shows the following: (1) In 2019, the land surface temperature in Dalian formed a spatial distribution structure of “high in the central region and low in the surrounding region” at the block scale, and the fractal indices of different green spaces show the spatial distribution structure of “dual-core” and “multi-core” spaces. (2) The driving direction and force of the fractal index of green space on the spatial pattern of land surface temperature differs. The influence of the green space structure index (grid and boundary dimensions) is greater than that of the quantity index (area and circumference), and the influence of the grid dimension is the most significant. (3) The spatial heterogeneity between the fractal index of block-scale green space and land surface temperature in Dalian is significant, showing a centralized and contiguous spatial pattern, with a trapezoidal structure decreasing from north to south. (4) The spatial adaptation between the fractal and thermal environments of green spaces can be evaluated using the inconsistency index. The development quality of green space can be divided into three types: advanced, relative coordination, and lagged green spaces. Finally, this study proposes specific suggestions for the development of block-scale green spaces and thermal environment management in Dalian City.