Public responses to mitigation strategies for urban heat island in Shanghai, China

The effectiveness of urban heat island (UHI) mitigation strategies and their implementation depend not only on the local climate conditions, but also on public awareness and perceptions. Public participation is essential for developing appropriate UHI mitigation strategies and improving urban community's liveability. In this paper a survey was conducted to investigate the public responses to UHI mitigation strategies in the city of Shanghai, China. A total of 284 valid questionnaires have been collected in different districts in Shanghai from May to July 2022. The results show that more than 86% of the respondents are aware of UHI in Shanghai and most of the respondents feel uncomfortable or have certain health symptoms with the rising temperature caused by UHI. The community environmental awareness promotion in the community is selected as the preferred approach to help with the implementation of UHI mitigation strategy. Green infrastructure is selected as the most commonly used UHI mitigation strategy. Most respondents state that they obtain UHI information from internet and TV, and the smallest number of respondents rely on research papers. The number of hours using air conditioning or heating system is found to be not correlated with the awareness of UHI mitigation strategies. It can be concluded that the awareness in the general public through public education or information sharing is of great importance for the actual implementation of UHI mitigation strategies. The results of this study will assist urban planners and decision makers in making informed and effective UHI mitigation strategies.