Research Progress and Hotspot Analysis of Urban Heat Island Effects Based on Cite Space Analysis

Abstract

The urban heat island (UHI) effect has become a hot topic in the global urban ecological environment. Research on the UHI effect is of great significance for alleviating urban environmental problems. Therefore, it has attracted the extensive attention of a large number of researchers in the field of urban environmental issues, such as urban ecologists, urban climatologists, urban planners, geographers, relevant policy makers, etc. However, systematic reviews are lacking on UHI research in the context of rapid urbanization and global change in recent years. In this study, we used Cite Space software to analyze the development process and current situation of UHI research from multiple perspectives during 2008–2021, aiming to reveal research hotspots and predict future trends. We found that UHI has gradually become a multidisciplinary field, and has existed in a flourishing period since 2008 with the rapid development of a number of publications. A large amount of research has been carried out by relevant institutions and scholars in 85 countries from 2008 to 2021. The hotspot research frontier focuses on the influencing factors, mitigation measures, and quantitative analysis of the UHI effect. Based on these trends and the status of the field, we proposed further research directions to promote interdisciplinary integration, optimize quantitative monitoring methods, strengthen the impact of three-dimensional urban landscape and vegetation landscape patterns, and expand the study of the urban agglomeration scale. Our results provide a valuable reference and potential frontier for future research in the field of the UHI effect.