Hotspots, Heat Vulnerability and Urban Heat Islands: An Interdisciplinary Review of Research Methodologies

摘要

As a result of ongoing global warming, approximately 30% of the world’s population livesin areas where the temperature reaches the death risk threshold at least 20 days a year. Thedistribution of heat and vulnerability, however, varies in a city; where mitigation actionsshould begin is a simple question that must be answered. Therefore, it is important to identifyhotspots and provide a concrete foundation for the following decision-making processthat can be used to integrate urban risk management systems. This paper critically reviewedprevious studies from 2006 to 2018 on this subject with the following three main researchobjectives: (1) What are the definitions and connotations regarding the current discussionson “hotspots”? (2) What are the emerging approaches used to define the threshold, intensityand other properties of hotspots according to their different connotations? (3) Whereare the gaps between hotspot recognition and urban heat-related risk management? Theresults indicate that the concepts, especially related to threshold detection methods, areovercomplicated and vague, suggesting the need for further communication among disciplines.