Shading and cooling role of tree canopies within urban forest landscapes: Comfort and recreation

Abstract

Urban forests comprise wide ranges of urban greenery composed of trees and shrubs in particular. In fact, urban trees constitute significant part of the urban forests, which potentially generate recreational and comfortable environment for the urban public by means of their branch and canopy architecture. Urban tree canopies provide shading and cooling for people in order to ensure their recreation, tranquillity, and to maintain their thermal comfort. However, there are many factors and means that influence the shading and cooling potential of these tree canopies within the urban landscape. The general and seasonal characteristics of the tree species as well as the overall canopy properties are effective in determining the shade and cooling supply of those trees and canopies. In this chapter, these factors and means together with the phenomena that may lead to the disasters and threats on the urban forests are suggested and discussed, also necessarily referring to the relatively recent scientific literature. Nevertheless, these suggestions and discussions are concentrated principally around the recreation and comfort concepts. Consequently, comprehensive acquirements will further support the sustainable urban landscape planning proposals and will promote the consideration of the urban forests as a significant component within the total landscape. © 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.