The urban heat island (UHI) effect will persist for a long time and influence human health, energy consumption, and future urban planning. Understanding the cooling effect of water bodies and green spaces can help alleviate the frequency of extreme climate, especially during torridity seasons. In this study, correlation and regression analysis were used to measure the relationship between land surface temperature (LST) or cooling indicators and landscape factors. In addition, the cooling intensity, distance, and threshold value of efficiency (TVoE) of water bodies and green spaces were detected. The results confirmed that: first, the cooling effect of water bodies were stronger than that of vegetation in most cases and more water bodies’ layout in the region was advocated; second, increasing vegetation coverage within 27% of the region can effectively and economically alleviate the thermal environment; and third, the green samples with an area of 0.57 ha and a high vegetation index had a higher cost performance ratio. The results provided quantitative guidance for urban public service spatial planning of water bodies and green spaces to prevent the continuous increase of urban background temperature.

Rapid urbanization, land scarcity, and accompanying ecological deterioration in China have received growing attention. In this paper, two fast-growing metropolitan regions, Greater Shanghai and Greater Hangzhou, were selected as case studies to quantify the impact of land use/land cover (LULC) change on regional ecosystem services value (ESV) at the landscape scale since the late 1970s. The results show that in both regions, dramatic LULC change, especially recent land development at the urban fringes, led to a steady decline in the available area of productive agricultural land, natural land and semi-natural land. This consequently caused remarkable landscape fragmentation along the urban-rural gradient as measured by five class-level landscape metrics. It was estimated that in Greater Shanghai, regulating, supporting, provisioning, and cultural ESVs decreased by 32.05%, 17.89%, 53.72%, and 17.06%, respectively. In Greater Hangzhou, these values decreased by 27.82%, 23.86%, 28.62%, and 22.85%, respectively. In addition, the relationship is quantified between zonal buffer-based ESV and class-level landscape metrics. Further analysis shows that spatiotemporal patterns of zonal ESVs along the urban-rural gradient in these two regions exhibited unbalanced patterns of ecological services delivery.

Low-impact development (LID) is generally regarded as an effective solution for urban stormwater management. However, the effects of LID on storm flooding on an urban drainage systems scale have not been fully understood under different rainfall characteristics. In this paper, using a high-density residential catchment in China as a case study, the PCSWMM model is applied to simulate the control effects of seven LID land layout scenarios on water quantity and quality of rainfall runoff under different rainfall return periods, durations, and locations of peak rainfall intensity. The simulations indicated the following results: (1) All seven LID scenarios are more effective in flood control during smaller rainfall return periods and longer rainfall duration storms, and the influence of locations of peak rainfall intensity on the rainfall runoff is not obvious. (2) Permeable pavement is the best choice in single LID measures, and the combination of permeable pavement, vegetative swale, and a green roof is the best choice among combined LID layouts. This paper gives insight into the performance of LID designs under different rainfall characteristics, which is essential for effective sponge city construction.

With the acceleration of global warming and urbanization, the problem of the thermal environment in urban areas has become increasingly prominent. In this paper, Fuzhou was selected to quantify the impact of land use cover change (LUCC) on land surface temperature (LST). The results showed that from 1993 to 2016, the land use/cover types of the study area changed greatly, especially the change of construction land, which led to an obvious change in the spatial pattern of LST. From 1993 to 2016, the spatial and temporal distribution of LST contributions in Fuzhou was uneven. The central urban area had a positive contribution to the rise of LST, while Minqing and Yongtai had a negative contribution. From the perspective of different land use/land cover types, forest or grass land, cultivated land, and water all made a negative contribution to the increase of surface temperature, while construction land made a positive contribution. Outcomes provided by the multi-distance spatial cluster analysis (Ripley’s K function) showed that there was a scale effect in the concentration and dispersion of LST; from 1993 to 2016, the concentration range of LST in the study area gradually expanded and the degree of concentration increased.