Dynamics and Temperature Regulation Function of Urban Green Connectivity

Abstract

Connectivity is an important aspect of the landscape pattern on influencing function and services. This paper analyzes the dynamics of urban green connectivity of Shenzhen, China, from years 1986–2010 and examines the temperature regulation function, based on remote sensing and a field survey. The connectivity degree of urban green was classified as core, islet, edge, perforation, bridge, loop, and branch by using the linear spectral mixing method and morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA). The results demonstrated that patterns and functions of connectivity categories have changed greatly during urbanization. The increasing areas of edge, branch, and bridge resulted in cooling the environments. It showed that perforation is the best category to keep thermal environments stable by being surrounded with large green areas. By comparing the results of statistics and buffer analysis, islet, edge, bridge, and branch contributed to decreasing temperature of nongreen areas in surrounding areas. The findings can improve the understanding of relationship between urban green connectivity and its climate regulation function, and supply the evidence for urban planning and green-corridor planning.