Page 353 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 4

Süleyman Toy - Zeynep Eren

and they may also affect regional and global climate characteristics (Arnfield
2003). These differences, whose severity and frequency of occurrence increase
depending on spatial - physical, social and economic variables, have been
noticed as from the beginning of the last century, and since urban areas
appear as heat islands within a wide and cold region on isotherm maps, this
situation is called “urban heat islands” (Oke et al. 2017; WMO 2023).
The differences in urban climate characteristics based on their surroundings
emerge at the macro level due to the factors summarized in Figure 2 (Peng
et al. 2019; Wai et al. 2022; Thanvisitthpon 2023). For this reason, the air in
the urban environment is warmer, more windless (stifling), drier (moisture-free)
and dirtier (in terms of gases and particulate matter) than in the surrounding
natural areas. Therefore, it causes a negative impact on human life (Arifwidodo
and Chandrasiri 2020, Milesi and Churkina 2020).

Global climate
Seasonal changes
Global warming
El Nino and La Nina Local
weather conditions
Geographical
Wind speed and direction
characteristics
Topography
Solar radiation
Climate zone
egetation cover
Humidity
Urban Precipitation
Heat
Island
Urban dimension Urban form
Urban density
Population density Construction materials
Urban geometry
Human activities Land use/function
Energy consumption
Transportation
GHG and pollutants

Figure 2. Classification of the effects that force urban climate characteristics to change
(Wai et al. 2022)

Effects of global climate change on urban climates: Being affected spatially
and periodically by the changes in general global circulation and warming, cities
are also exposed to these effects and show different climatic and meteorological
characteristics. The impacts such as heat waves and changes in precipitation
regimes also affect urban meteorological and climatological conditions.
Effect of local weather conditions: Characteristics that may directly disrupt
the urban heat balance, such as the prevailing wind direction and intensity, the

342 The Journal of Environment, Urban and Climate