Urban Morphology and Anthropogenic Heat Effect on Land Surface Temperature: Bab Ezzouar (Algiers) Case Study

Under the effect of global warming, urban temperatures are notably getting higher and higher. However, anthropogenic heat emissions do significantly alter the magnitude of the urban heat as highlighted by the Land Surface Temperature (LST) deducted from the Landsat 8 OLI imagery. This paper’s objective is to assess the urban resilience capacity face to the anthropogenic heat in order to enhance the urban cooling strategy. The assessment methodology is developed in four steps. The first step is to identify the municipal territory’s climatic zones based on the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) approach. The second step is to characterize the resilience capacity as being the sum of the absorptive capacity and the adaptation potential referring to a set of morphological indicators, the socio-spatial organization and the urban fabric typology. The third step is to analyze the linear relationship between the morphological indicators and the Land surface temperature (LST) using the Pearson linear correlation method. The classification and prioritization of those indicators constitute the last step of this assessment methodology. The municipality of Bab Ezzouar from Algiers (Algeria) is formulated as a demonstrative case study.