Influence of Urban Green Spaces on Temperature and Relative Humidity of the Surrounding Areas (Case Study: Gorgan City)

In recent years much attention has been made to urban green spaces to prevent increasing temperature, and increases of at relative humidity considering global warming which may cause reduced energy consumption. In this study, the effects of urban green spaces in Gorgan on temperature and humidity of the surrounding environment has been assessed. Field survey was carried out in August 2011 and temperature and relative humidity was recorded for 15 selected green spaces in the city. Results indicated gradual temperature decrease and heightened relative humidity with proximity to the green spaces. The meaningful distance for the effect of the spaces on temperature reduction was found to be 60 meters (p≤0/05). The northern aspect was found to have the lowest temperature and highest relative humidity while the southern aspect showed a reverse trend. The adjusted R2 for the regressions between temperature and relative humidity as dependent variables and aspect, distance and the size of the green spaces were found to be 0/975 and 0/9274, respectively. The results indicated a meaningful impact of the green spaces on temperature and relative humidity of the adjacent areas in the urban environment. These green spaces are thus considered as cool islands the provision of which will help dampen the negative impact of the developments in the city. This study helped quantify the mitigating effects of the green spaces and provided a basis for justifying increase in urban vegetated areas.