Green Infrastructure Impact on the Urban Atmosphere

The urbanization process modifies the dynamic, radiative, and thermodynamic properties of the surface, creating local meteorological phenomena such as temperature differences between central and suburban areas in large cities and the Urban Heat Island effect. These changes and the emission of pollutants are topics in scientific discussions and directly impact the economy, politics, and health. The knowledge of urban climate is essential to understand the urban environment's role on people and materials. Thus, it is necessary to create action to mitigate the adverse effects on the cities, and the effects of poor air quality on people’s health. Considering a sustainable point of view, using green infrastructure in cities has been the subject of studies to minimize the impact of urban effects on the atmosphere. Also, there is a gap in the potential benefit of these structures on different city sizes and urban morphology.

This Research Topic will discuss the impact of green infrastructure on meteorological, chemical, and thermal comfort variables for indoor and outdoor environments. By nature-based solutions, we mean all types of green and blue infrastructure applied in urban environments, such as green roofs and facades, ponds, lakes, parks, and constructed wetlands, among others. We also introduce here the effect resulting from the application of new construction materials, focused on neutral carbon, as resilient constructions to local climate change.

This research topic hopes to bring together numerical computation and observational studies that present the impact of these infrastructures on the urban environment, meteorology, and retention and absorption of atmospheric pollutants, regardless of the size of the urban region.

• Impact of green infrastructure on meteorological and atmospheric chemistry variables.
• Analysis of the benefits of nature-based solutions for thermal comfort in indoor and outdoor environments.
• Provides novel analysis and modelling for urban green infrastructure impacts.

Keywords: Green Infrastructure, Urban Heat Island effect, Urban Climate, Urban and Climate Change, Blue Infrastructure, Built environment

Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.