Determining Favourable and Unfavourable Thermal Areas in Seoul Using In-Situ Measurements: A Preliminary Step towards Developing a Smart City

Urban heat island effects (UHIE) are becoming increasingly widespread, thus, there is an urgent need to address thermal comfort, which significantly influences the daily lives of people. In this study, a means of improving the thermal environment by spatial analysis of heat was implemented to ensure basic thermal comfort in future smart cities. Using Seoul as the study site, the relationship between sensible heat and land cover type was used to identify heat islands in this city. Thereafter, k-means clustering was employed to extract unfavourable and favourable thermal areas. High sensible heat indicates locations where environmental heat needs to be mitigated. Sensible heat distribution data were used for spatial typification to formulate an effective land cover factor to mitigate the UHIE. In-situ net radiation data measured at six sites were utilised to confirm the spatial typification of the thermal environment. It was found that expanding the green space by 1% reduces the sensible heat by 4.9 W/m2. Further, the building coverage ratio and green coverage influence the sensible heat in compact residential areas. The study results can be used to establish spatial planning standards to improve the thermal environments of sustainable cities.