Land Surface Temperature Reduction in Cities of Hot Semi-arid Zone
Description
Urban hot semi-arid regions are particularly vulnerable to heat extremes, given that almost all are located in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Cities are therefore expanding rapidly. Most urban residents in LMICs have low per capita income, live in densely populated neighbourhoods with little tree canopy, and have limited resources to act in contexts that leave little physical space. The drought characteristic of the hot semi-arid climate zone (BSh according to the Köppen-Geiger classification) hinders the increase in tree canopy recommended in other climate zones to mitigate the impact of heatwaves. Since 2017, researchers have increasingly studied urban warming in BSh zone and proposed measures to reduce them. Nowadays, satellite-detected land surface temperature (LST) is the preferred source of information for investigating the thermal issue. This dataset covers 233 LST assessments published between 2007 and 2026 on 43 cities in BSh zone. The dataset summarize the LST reduction measures in 8 tables: 1. List of the 225 cities in the BSh climate zone; 2. Articles published on 43 cities in the BSh zone, with download links; 3. List of cities studied, broken down by macro-region and number of studies; 4. Cities exhibiting an urban cool island; 5. Sensors used to measure LST by the 233 assessments; 6. Information source on land cover used by the 233 assessments; 7. Measures to reduce LST according the 233 studies; 8. Cities in the BSh zone exhibiting a reduction in vegetated area. The dataset shows a rapid increase in the number of studies after 2017. However, 43 per cent of the studies do not propose measures to reduce LST. The remaining studies propose mostly generic measures followed, in order of frequency, by greening, cool materials, sustainable urban planning, water bodies and improved urban morphology.
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Steps to reproduce
We collected data by searching Scopus and Web of Science using the keywords ‘Land Surface Temperature’, ‘Urban heat island’, and ‘Cooling’ in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, as they appeared in the title, keywords, or abstract of articles in both databases. The study period ran from January 2007 to September 2026. We restricted the analysis to cities in the BSh zone, according to the Köppen-Geiger classification provided by the University of Vienna (https://koeppen-geiger.vu-wien.ac.at/present.htm). Analysis considered the 225 cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants according to the national census offices. We excluded articles focused on mostly rural contexts, those lacking LST maps, and those related to cities in climatic zones other than BSh. For each article, we considered the spatial resolution of LST and land-cover data, the proposed LST-reduction measures, and their climate-justice impacts.
Institutions
- Politecnico di TorinoPiedmont, Turin