Urban Heat Islands (UHI) consist of the occurrence of higher temperatures in urbanized areas when compared to rural areas. During the warmer seasons, this effect can lead to thermal discomfort, higher energy consumption, and aggravated pollution effects. The application of Remote Sensing (RS) data/techniques using thermal sensors onboard satellites, drones, or aircraft, allow for the estimation of Land Surface Temperature (LST). This article presents a systematic review of publications in Scopus and Web of Science (WOS) on UHI analysis using RS data/techniques and LST, from 2000 to 2020. The selection of articles considered keywords, title, abstract, and when deemed necessary, the full text. The process was conducted by two independent researchers and 579 articles, published in English, were selected. Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed. Cfa climate areas are the most represented, as the Northern Hemisphere concentrates the most studied areas, especially in Asia (69.94%); Landsat products were the most applied to estimates LST (68.39%) and LULC (55.96%); ArcGIS (30.74%) was most used software for data treatment, and correlation (38.69%) was the most applied statistic technique. There is an increasing number of publications, especially from 2016, and the transversality of UHI studies corroborates the relevance of this topic.

The impact of allergens emitted by urban green spaces on health is one of the main disservices of ecosystems. The objective of this work is to establish the potential allergenic value of some tree species in urban environments, so that the allergenicity of green spaces can be estimated through application of the Index of Urban Green Zones Allergenicity (I_UGZA). Multiple types of green spaces in Mediterranean cities were selected for the estimation of I_UGZ. The results show that some of the ornamental species native to the Mediterranean are among the main causative agents of allergy in the population; in particular, Oleaceae, Cupressaceae, Fagaceae, and Platanus hispanica. Variables of the strongest impact on I_UGZA were the bioclimatic characteristics of the territory and design aspects, such as the density of trees and the number of species. We concluded that the methodology to assess the allergenicity associated with urban trees and urban areas presented in this work opens new perspectives in the design and planning of urban green spaces, pointing out the need to consider the potential allergenicity of a species when selecting plant material to be used in cities. Only then can urban green areas be inclusive spaces, in terms of public health.

Following the industrial revolution, major economic and populational growth took place, and, therefore, solid waste generation increased exponentially. Nowadays, waste management still generates major impacts because the current wide offer of waste management strategies includes many solutions that produce suboptimal results, such as landfill or waste incineration. From a circular economy perspective, composting is a potentially sustainable option to treat the organic fraction of solid waste and has the advantage of recycling many organic compounds that can be reintroduced into the natural processes. This study aimed to provide a meta-analysis using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method to evaluate the impacts of composting by performing a systematic literature review of the diversity of approaches and assessing environmental impacts. The results of the impact assessment were highly dependent on the choices made over the system boundary and the functional units. The most cited environmental impacts were Global Warming Potential, Acidification Potential, Eutrophication Potential, Photochemical Oxidation Potential, and Ozone Layer Depletion, as gaseous emissions from the transport and decomposition represent the main contributors to these categories. Using a smaller dataset and evaluating the use of the CML method and the most cited impacts categories, it was found that In-vessel Composting and Home Composting were considered the best environmental options among the studied composting methods. Composting environmental impacts were also highly related to the use of non-renewable energy sources, which puts composting at a disadvantage when compared with the use of anaerobic digestion. Such results emphasize the benefits of using these waste management technologies as complementary instead of substitutes.

Urbanization causes major changes in environmental systems, including those related with radiation balances and other meteorological conditions because of changes in surfaces and the physical environment. In addition, cities generate specific microclimates as a consequence of the diverse conditions within the urban fabric. Industrial parks represent vast urban areas, often neglected, contributing to the degradation of the urban environment, including poor thermal comfort as a result of soil sealing and low albedo surfaces. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) can promote the mitigation of the anthropic effects of urbanization using nature as an inspiration. The present study, aimed at estimating the microclimate conditions in a fraction of the Argales industrial park in the city of Valladolid (Spain), with the use of the ENVI-Met software, assesses the current situation and a planned NBS scenario. Base scenario simulation results demonstrate different conditions across the simulations, with higher temperatures on sun-exposed surfaces with low albedo, and lower temperature spots, mostly associated with shadowed areas near existent buildings. After the simulation of the NBS scenario, the results show that, when compared with the base scenario, the projected air temperature changes reach reductions of up to 4.30 °C for the locations where changes are projected from impervious low albedo surfaces to shaded areas in the vicinity of trees and a water body.

The thermal environment is an important aspect of the urban environment because it affects the quality of life of urban residents and the energy use in buildings. Urban Heat Island (UHI) and Urban Cold Island (UCI) are complementary effects that are the consequence of cities’ structures interference with the local climate. This article presents results from five years of urban climate monitoring (2012–2016) in a small Portuguese city (Bragança) using a dense meteorological network of 23 locations covering a wide array of Local Climate Zones (LCZ), from urban areas to nearby rural areas. Results show the presence of both the UHI effect, from mid-afternoon until sunrise, and the UCI after sunrise, both being more intense under the dense midrise urban context and during the summer. Urban Green Spaces had an impact on both UHI and UCI, with an important role in cooling areas of the city during daytime in the summer. Other LCZs had less impact on local thermal conditions. Despite the small size of this city, both effects (UHI and UCI) had a relevant intensity with an impact on local climate conditions. Both effects tend to decrease in intensity with increasing wind speed and precipitation.

In the Mediterranean region, climate change is likely to generate an increase in water demand and the deterioration of its quality. The adoption of precision viticulture and the best available techniques aiming at sustainable production, minimizing the impact on natural resources and reducing production costs, has therefore been a goal of winegrowers. In this work, the water footprint (WFP) in the wine sector was evaluated, from the vineyard to the bottle, through the implementation of a methodology based on field experiments and life cycle assessment (LCA) on two Portuguese case studies. Regarding direct water footprint, it ranged from 366 to 899 L/FU (0.75 L bottle), with green water being the most significant component, representing more than 50% of the overall water footprint. The approach used in the current study revealed that although more than 97.5% of the water footprint is associated with vineyard, the winery stage is responsible for more than 75% of the global warming potential indicator. A linear correlation between the carbon footprint and the indirect blue water footprint was also observed for both case studies. Climate change is expected to cause an earlier and prolonged water stress period, resulting in an increase of about 40% to 82% of blue WFP.