Identifying the main factors influencing the land surface temperature (LST) of each local climate zone (LCZ) built type is of great significance for controlling LST. This study investigated the main factors influencing the LST of each LCZ built type in two Asian megacities: Tokyo and Shanghai. Each area in both megacities was classified according to the LCZ scheme. The diurnal LST, pervious surface fraction (PSF), surface albedo (SA), average building height ($⟨BH⟩$), and gross building coverage ratio (λp) of each LCZ were also calculated. Finally, the influence of the properties of each LCZ built type on LST was investigated. The results demonstrated that the main factors influencing LST of different LCZ built types differed in Tokyo and Shanghai. $⟨BH⟩$ was the main factor influencing LST for compact mid-rise and open high-rise types in Tokyo, and the compact mid-rise type in Shanghai; PSF was the main factor influencing LST for other LCZ built types. Moreover, both $⟨BH⟩$ and PSF negatively correlated with LST. Based on the above results and characteristics of each LCZ built type, specific LST mitigation strategies for each LCZ built type were proposed for Tokyo and Shanghai. The approach in this study can contribute to perspectives for urban planners and policymakers to develop highly feasible and reasonable LST mitigation strategies.

Clarifying the factors that influence land surface temperature (LST) is crucial for proposing specific LST mitigation strategies. This article focuses on the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region and investigates the LST influencing factors of various local climate zone (LCZ) built types from perspectives of urban morphology, land cover, and human activity. The results suggest that the areas of urban LCZ built types vary across cities within the BTH region, attributed to differences in city size and gross domestic product (GDP). The area of urban LCZ built types in Beijing and Tianjin, cities with significantly high city sizes and GDP, exceeds 2000 km ² . In contrast, in Qinhuangdao, Zhangjiakou, and Chengde, which have relatively low GDP, this area is less than 500 km ² . However, the main LST influencing factors for the same LCZ built type across cities are highly consistent. Building coverage ratio (BCR), average building height (ABH), and pervious surface fraction (PSF) are the three most important factors. The correlation between BCR and LST is mainly concentrated on compact high-rise and open high-rise types, with Pearson correlation coefficient ( r ) ranging from 0.2 to 0.44; the correlation between ABH and LST is mainly concentrated on compact high-rise, compact mid-rise, open high-rise, and open mid-rise types, with r ranging from −0.2 to −0.52; the correlation between PSF and LST is concentrated on almost all LCZ built types in cities within the BTH region, with r ranging from −0.2 to −0.56. By integrating these findings with the features of each LCZ built type within the BTH region, the specific LST mitigation strategies were further proposed. This article can help to develop specific LST mitigation strategies within the context of coordinated development of the BTH region, thereby promoting healthy and sustainable development in the region.

The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) scheme is an urban classification system which classifies urban areas into discrete local climates by morphological and land cover characteristics, proposed based on urban heat island researches in 1970s to 2000s. However, while the original scheme defines high‐rise buildings as areas higher than 25 m on average, buildings over 100 m have become more common in Asia since the 2000s. With the heterogeneity of urban areas, directly applying the original LCZ scheme to Asian cities has become difficult. Studies to incorporate the heterogeneity of urban morphology into the scheme have been conducted by researchers, although the increase in the number of taller buildings is not explored. This study proposes, LCZ categories and standards considering the super high‐rise buildings in Asian cities for a detailed categorization of urban morphology. For this, the urban morphological characteristics of Tokyo Metropolis, with a wide range of morphologies that exist in Asian cities, were analyzed. The proposal was made based on this analysis in relation to the thermal characteristics. Then, the characteristics of land surface temperature in each LCZ category were investigated in Shanghai and Xi'an, which indicated the applicability of the proposed categories to mid to large scale Asian cities.

The ecological environment is crucial for human health and sustainable development. As urbanization and urban expansion have a significant impact on ecological environment quality, it is necessary to incorporate indicators that characterize urban morphological features into the ecological environment quality evaluations. This study combines the remote sensing ecological index (RSEI) with the local climate zone (LCZ) scheme to evaluate the ecological quality of urban environments and analyze spatial heterogeneity across cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. The results reveal that the same LCZ categories exhibit similar RSEI characteristics across different cities, validating the effectiveness of the LCZ scheme in assessing urban ecological quality. Among them, sparsely built and open low-rise types consistently show higher ecological quality, whereas compact high-rise and heavy industrial types are associated with lower RSEI values. In terms of the influencing factors, land cover indicators—particularly the normalized difference built-up index, tree height, and pervious surface fraction—emerge as dominant drivers. Urban morphological, climatic, and socioeconomic factors also influenced specific LCZ categories in certain cities. The findings underscore the importance of integrating ecological considerations into urban planning, particularly in highly urbanized and industrialized areas. Strategies should focus on increasing vegetation cover, optimizing building density, and mitigating the adverse effects of urban expansion and industrialization to improve urban ecological quality.