Questionnaire survey on the perception of heatwaves and the cooling effect of green spaces and water bodies in urban residents: a case study of six urban districts in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China

Objective To explore the perception of heatwaves and the cooling effect of green spaces and water bodies in urban residents, and to provide support for formulating rational urban planning and thermal risk prevention.

Methods In July 2021, 325 valid questionnaires were collected from 13 typical parks in six urban districts of Xi'an, Shaanxi province, China. Based on Chi-square test and Logistic regression, this paper investigated the residents' perception of heatwaves, subjective cognition and influencing factors on the cooling effect of green spaces and water bodies.

Results Overall, 92.31% of the respondents believed that heatwaves had an impact on their daily lives. Women had a higher proportion to seek medical treatment due to high temperature than that of men, and they showed higher vulnerability (χ²=17.16, P < 0.05). Monthly income had a significant impact on residents' perception of heatwaves (P < 0.05). Low-income people felt the threats of heatwaves more strongly than high-income people. Furthermore, 73.23% of the respondents believed that water bodies and green spaces in Xi'an had a gradually increasing cooling effect in recent years, and 79.08% and 40.92% of residents believed that the area and shape of ecological landscapes would affect their cooling effect, respectively. Occupation and duration of residence in Xi'an were significant influencing factors for the perception of cooling effect (P < 0.05).

Conclusion The awareness of the cooling effect of landscape pattern among Xi'an residents still needs to be improved. In the future, it is necessary to promote the early warning of heatwaves and strengthen the popularization and publicity of the cooling effect of urban ecological landscapes.