Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Habitat International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/habitatint
The influence of Korea’s green parking project on the thermal
environment of a residential street
Jong-Hwa Park a, Jeongseob Kim a, D.K. Yoon b, Gi-Hyoug Cho a, *
a
School of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology, Republic of Korea
b
Department of Urban Planning & Engineering, Yonsei University, Republic of Korea
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 3 December 2015
Received in revised form
28 April 2016
Accepted 26 May 2016
1. Introduction
Rapid urban growth intensifies the population concentration in
cities, making them highly dense. The heated air of the dense inner
city resulting from solar radiation tends to be 2e5  C higher than
that in surrounding rural areas (Ackerman, 1985; Taha, 1997; Tan &
Li, 2015). One of the main causes of this urban heat island (UHI)
phenomenon is the increased proportion of artificial impervious
surfaces and the relatively lower proportion of natural land cover in
urban settings (Jusuf, Wong, Hagen, Anggoro, & Hong, 2007; Onishi,
Cao, Ito, Shi, & Imura, 2010; Wong & Yu, 2005). In urban areas, a
considerable amount of the impervious surface comprises parking
lots covered by concrete or asphalt (Onishi et al., 2010). Indeed,
approximately 10% of the land cover in U.S. cities (McPherson,
2001) and 7% of downtown areas in Japanese cities (Nakamura,
Shoji, & Muneta, 2007) are parking lots. To mitigate the adverse
effects of the resulting increased temperature and to provide
pleasurable outdoor spaces for pedestrians, researchers have
emphasized the role of urban planners and urban designers in
creating a thermally comfortable urban area (Jamei, Rajagopalan,
Seyedmahmoudian, & Jamei, 2016). Converting parking spaces in
the city to greener spaces would be one of the effective in-
terventions to improve the thermal conditions of outdoor spaces.
The green parking project (or the “fence removal campaign”) in
* Corresponding author. School of Urban and Environmental Engineering, Ulsan
National Institute of Science and Technology, Building 106, 801-7, Ulsan, 689-798,
Republic of Korea.
E-mail addresses: pjs1216z@nate.com (J.-H. Park), jskim14@unist.ac.kr (J. Kim),
dkyoon@yonsei.ac.kr (D.K. Yoon), gicho@unist.ac.kr (G.-H. Cho).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2016.05.005
0197-3975/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Korea is an attempt to modify the façade of residential buildings by
removing fences to create parking spaces in residential properties.
The main purpose of the green parking project in Korea was to solve
a shortage of parking spaces that existed in detached housing
blocks. In the 1970s and 1980s, Korea experienced rapid urbani-
zation. Between 1970 and 1990, the urban population of South
Korea grew from 40% to 78% of the total population. What took the
United States 90 years to accomplish took Korea 20 years
(Henderson, 2002). Accordingly, a vast number of housing de-
velopments were created in a very short period, but increased
demand for motorization and the possession of private vehicles
were not appropriately accounted for in residential land develop-
ment. Consequently, residents in detached housing areas had to
occupy public streets outside their properties to park their private
vehicles.
With private vehicles occupying streets in residential areas,
there has been growing concern over the deteriorating environ-
mental quality of these detached housing areas and their increased
accident risk for pedestrians (Park, 2006). In response to these
mounting concerns, the strategies of the green parking project
include removing the wall or fence from an individual property,
modifying the façade of residential buildings to make them an open
structure, and creating parking spaces inside the properties with
the financial support of the city government (Fig. 1).
The existing literature on the subject of the green parking
project has focused on evaluation of the project with respect to
crime (Kim & Park, 2013; Kim, Kim, & Hwang, 2011), the formation
of a sense of community (Baek, Kim, & Lee, 2010; Koo & Kim, 2009),
and the quality of the resulting pedestrian environment (Ko, Lee, &
Ahn, 2006). However, far too little attention has been paid to
evaluating policy interventions in residential settlements for the
thermal environment of outdoor spaces. In urban planning and
design, making outdoor spaces attractive to people, and ultimately
used by them, has become an increasingly important goal (Chen &
Ng, 2012), and the green parking policy in Korea is one of the
strategies designed to achieve that goal. In this study, we intend to
address how the policy, aimed to provide parking spaces and
increased green space in residential areas, has affected the thermal
environment of a residential street.
182 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190
Fig. 1. (a) before and (b) after view of how green parking project transforms residential street.
2. Literature review
The conventional role of fences on a property is to protect an
individual’s territory and define the physical boundaries of private
ownership. However, the previous literature has shown that the
effect of fences on enhancing security might be minimal. Kim and
Park (2014), for example, surveyed 152 prisoners who were con-
victed of burglary to examine whether the existence of fences on a
property reduced crimes, and they found that the existence of
fences might actually increase crimes because it blocks visual sur-
veillance of the area. Kim et al., (2011) also showed that the
improvement of natural surveillance by removing fences reduced
perceived crime risk for residents. Ko et al., (2006), meanwhile,
examined the relationships between the quality of a pedestrian
environment and the sense of community and found that the green
parking project enhanced the vitality of the pedestrian environ-
ment, which contributed to a higher sense of community in the
neighborhood. Previous studies on the green parking project have
revealed the positive influences of the project on the neighborhood,
but few studies have examined the effects of the green parking
project on the thermal environment of the street.
The existing literature examining the thermal effects of parking
facilities and taking a microscopic approach to them have primarily
focused on the influence of surface or pavement materials on
temperature. Takebayashi and Moriyama (2009), for example, us-
ing an infrared camera, evaluated the thermal effect of converting
asphalt-covered parking areas to grass-covered spaces. The results
showed that the sensible heat flux was reduced from 100 to
150 W m 2 in the daytime to around 50 W m 2 at night, in com-
parison with asphalt. Ca, Asaeda, and Abu (1998) measured the
thermal conditions of parking lots at noon in the summer and re-
ported that the ground temperature of a concrete parking lot was
15  C higher than that parking lot with a grassy field. With regard to
air temperature, when measured 1.2 m above the ground, a con-
crete parking was 2  C higher than the parking lots with a grassy
field. Onishi et al., (2010), meanwhile, showed that planting grass
slightly reduced the land surface temperature over the whole study
area in spring and summer. For an individual parking lot, the
maximum land surface temperature decreased by 7.26  C in the
summer.
A relatively large number of research projects on outdoor
thermal comfort have been conducted in various climates around
the world (Ali-Toudert & Mayer, 2007; Chen and Ng. 2012; Hong &
Lin, 2015; Jamei et al., 2016; Krüger, Minella, & Rasia, 2011;
Pearlmutter, Berliner, & Shaviv, 2006, 2007; Shashua-Bar,
Pearlmutter, & Erell, 2011). Overall, these studies have found that
the aspect ratios and orientations of street canyons (Ahmed, 2003;
Ali-Toudert & Mayer, 2007; Johansson, 2006; Perini & Magliocco,
2014; Taleb & Taleb, 2014), sky view factors (Charalampopoulos,
Tsiros, Chronopoulou-Sereli, & Matzarakis, 2013; Lin, Matzarakis,
& Hwang, 2010; Yan et al., 2014), street trees (Shahidan, Shariff,
Jones, Salleh, & Abdullah, 2010; Srivanit & Hokao, 2013; Yang,
Lau, & Qian, 2011), and urban parks (Chang & Li, 2014; Feyisa,
Dons, & Meilby, 2014; Klemm, Heusinkveld, Lenzholzer, Jacobs, &
Van Hove, 2015; Skoulika, Santamouris, Kolokotsa, & Boemi,
2014) all affect outdoor thermal comfort.
The common indicator used to identify outdoor thermal comfort
is the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), and the most
important meteorological factor affecting PET during daytime is
mean radiant temperature (MRT) (Matzarakis, Rutz, & Mayer, 2007;
Thorsson et al., 2014). Conceptually, MRT can be defined using the
measured surface temperature of surrounding walls and surfaces
and their positions with respect to the person. For estimating MRT,
therefore, it is necessary to measure radiant temperatures and the
angle between the person and the surrounding surfaces. Since in-
tegral radiation measurements and the calculation of angular fac-
tors require the most costly and complex measurement techniques,
modeling approaches using software such as Rayman, ENVI-met
and SOLWEIG, or simpler methods of measurement with a globe
thermometer, have been widely used for the calculation of the MRT
of a location (Thorsson, Lindberg, Eliasson, & Holmer, 2007).
Although MRT provides an informative measurement useful for
evaluating the thermal environment of outdoor spaces, the aggre-
gated measurement may not suggest specific implications for
planning and design practice. In particular, the green parking
project incorporates various design interventions, including the
replacement of pavement, fence removal, the relocation of parking
lots, and planting vegetation. Rather than analyzing the thermal
environment of a residential street with a comprehensive and
aggregated measurement of MRT estimated by software modeling,
this study decomposed the built environment of urban streets into
several elements and directly measured radiant surface tempera-
tures using a thermal infrared camera.
Relative to earlier work on the thermal effects of parking spaces,
our study is original in several respects. First, we defined the
thermal environment of residential streets with the radiant tem-
perature of decomposed physical elements in a street. Since one of
the key features of the green parking project is the removal of
existing fences from a detached housing property, it is important to
account for exposure to the radiation heat emitted by each physical
 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190
element. Second, this study used case-control methods to evaluate
the thermal environment of a residential street where a green
parking project was completed compared with a residential street
with no intervention. Third, unlike methods used for other studies
applied to urban climate simulations (Ali-Toudert & Mayer, 2007;
Krüger et al., 2011; Pearlmutter et al., 2006), we used a thermal
infrared camera to measure radiant surface temperatures. The
measurement of existing urban settings may provide the most
direct evidence of the thermal environment on residential streets
(Pearlmutter et al., 2007).
3. Methods
3.1. Selection of the study areas
The study areas are all located in the city of Ulsan, Korea, the 7th
largest metropolitan area in Korea, with an area of 1060.19 km2 and
a population of 1.17 million. Ulsan is surrounded by mountains, and
Taehwa river runs through the city eastward into the sea. The
annual average precipitation is 1277.1 mm and the annual average
temperature is 14.1  C, with August averaging 25.9  C and January
averaging 2.0  C. Land use is heterogeneous and includes mixed
residential-commercial-industrial areas.
A street in a residential area where sixteen households reside
was selected for evaluating the thermal environment of the green
parking project. Originally built in 1988 in Nam-Gu, Ulsan, the
street was redeveloped into a green parking village in 2009.
Another street, selected for comparison, is a conventional resi-
dential street built in 1988 and located 270 m from the green
parking street. The number of households residing in the conven-
tional residential street is 17. The conventional residential street
has very similar physical characteristics to the green parking street
and configurations in terms of parcel size, the length of the street,
and the height of the buildings. The lengths of the green parking
and conventional residential streets were 115 m and 110 m,
respectively. Fig. 2 shows the locations of the selected study sites in
the city.
3.2. Classification of physical elements
In the green parking street, both the wall and the fenestra of a
detached house were directly exposed to the street space when the
existing fence was completely removed. The parking space of each
house was located in a residential yard. Electric and communication
cables were buried under the ground. Green areas with small trees
and shrubs were designed inside the residential yards beside the
parking space. The pavement material of the green parking street
Fig. 2. The locations of the selected study sites.
183
was neo-stone bricks. One side of the conventional residential
street was mostly occupied by parked vehicles. Although the width
of the conventional residential street (5.5 m) was slightly wider
than that of the green parking street (4.0 m), the space for pedes-
trians on them was narrow. The height of the fences in the con-
ventional residential street was 3e4 m, and the pavement material
of the street was asphalt.
Based on the observable physical features of the street from a
pedestrian’s perspective, we classified the physical features of each
street into five elements: walls (either brick or painted), fenestra,
ground pavement, vegetation, and other objects on the streets, such
as vehicles or streetlights. Fig. 3 shows exemplary visual images of
the street configurations and the five physical elements that we
defined in the two sites.
3.3. Measurement of temperature
Using a thermal infrared camera (FLIR T440), temperatures were
taken on August 5, 2014. We collected thermal images from 3
points (enter-point, mid-point, and end-point) in each street. To
compare the results of daytime and nighttime, the thermal data of
each street was collected three times during daytime (12:00 p.m.,
1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m.) and two times during the night (9:00 p.m.
and 10 p.m.). Fig. 4 represents the locations of those enter-, mid-,
and end-points for each street. The resolution of the thermal im-
ages was 360*240 pixels. A raster data file composed of 76,800
pieces of temperature data was created. Since the emissivities of all
materials in the street were accurately specified, we did not revise
these measurements based on the emissivities of the different
materials (Takebayashi & Moriyama, 2009). Thus, we used a default
value of 0.95 for emissivity. We estimated air temperature and
humidity using a digital thermo-hygrometer (TH-05). The highest
temperature record on the study date was 33.5  C. The air tem-
perature at the measurement time on the streets ranged from
27.42  C to 33.5  C (Table 1).
Once we retrieved the temperature data, the radiant surface
temperature for each physical element was extracted using ArcGIS
10.2 (Fig. 5). First, a photograph image of each spot was imported to
ArcGIS 10.2.1 as a raster file. Based on the visual features of the
photograph, we created polygons representing each physical
element of the street. Then, radiant surface temperature data taken
by a thermal infrared camera were imported as a raster file of
360*240 pixels. By joining the thermal raster data and the polygon
representing each physical element, we extracted the thermal in-
formation for each of the physical elements. Since we collected
thermal data from 3 spots at 5 times in a day, the total number of
collected pieces of temperature data at one site was 1,152,000.
184 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190

Fig. 3. The five physical elements in the two study sites (1: walls, 2: fenestra, 3: ground pavement, 4: vegetation, 5: other objects on the streets).

Fig. 4. The locations of the three spots taken by thermal infrared camera.

Table 1 temperature of each physical element, we aggregated the temper-

The air temperature and humidity of the study sites. ature, measured at three spots for each street. Second, to evaluate
Time Green parking street Conventional residential street the changes to the built environment, we computed the percentage
of an area occupied by each physical element area.
Temperature( C) Humidity(%) Temperature( C) Humidity(%)
The basic assumptions of this analysis were that the green
 
12 p.m. 32.4 C 60% 33.0 C 54% parking project may change the visible characteristics of the street
 
1 p.m. 33.4 C 52% 33.5 C 53%
 
from the pedestrian’s perspective and that the size and radiant
2 p.m. 32.2 C 56% 32.7 C 58%
9 p.m. 27.4 
C 83% 27.8 
C 81% surface temperature of the visible elements may indicate the pe-
10 p.m. 27.0 
C 78% 27.4 
C 82% destrian’s exposure to the thermal environment of the street. This
assumption is not substantially different from the concept of the
MRT, which depends on the temperatures and visible amount of the
3.4. Analysis surrounding surfaces (He, Hoyano, & Asawa, 2009). From a meth-
odological perspective, this study decomposed physical elements of
To compare the thermal environment of green parking streets a residential street and compared the difference in the radiant
and conventional residential streets, we analyzed the radiant sur- temperature of each physical element rather than calculate an
face temperature for each physical element in three ways. aggregated measure of the MRT to define the exposure to the
First, we conducted two sample t-tests to determine whether thermal environment.
there exists a significant difference in the radiant temperature of Third, to examine the effect of the green parking project on the
each element at the two study sites. To estimate the radiant daytime shadow pattern of the street, we conducted a simple
 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190 185

Fig. 5. The process to identify the radiant surface temperature for each physical element.

simulation using virtual 3D modeling. Building structures and tall
trees can create shadows over the open area as well as on adjacent
buildings (Giridharan, Ganesan, & Lau, 2004; Wong & Yu, 2005).
The 3D model was rendered by inserting an AutoCAD map into
Google SketchUp (Wong & Lau, 2013). Inputting the Korea sun path
into the model at both sites, we showed the extent of these
shadows at 12:00 p.m., 1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m.
4. Results
4.1. The radiant temperature of each physical element
Table 2 shows the radiant temperature of each physical element
at five measurement times, and Fig. 6 shows the average radiant
temperature during daytime and at night. Based on their materials,
the walls were classified as either brick or painted. Between 12:00
p.m. and 2:00 p.m., the radiant temperature of the brick wall on the
green parking street ranged from 30.84  C to 32.72  C., while it
ranged from 32.46  C to 35.07  C on the conventional residential
street. The radiant temperature of the brick-type wall on the green
parking street was 0.91  C lower that than the temperature in the
conventional residential street during the daytime. No considerable
differences in the radiant temperature were found between the
brick and the painted wall. On average, the radiant temperature of
the painted wall on the green parking street (30.82  C) was 1.29  C
lower than the temperature of the painted wall on the conventional

Table 2
The radiant temperature of the physical elements at five measurement times.

Green parking street Conventional residential street t-test

Mean temp 95% conf. interval Mean temp 95% conf. interval
***
Fence(or wall); brick 12 p.m. 30.84 [30.81 30.86] 32.46 [32.44 32.47]
***
1 p.m. 32.34 [32.32 32.35] 31.11 [31.10 31.12]
***
2 p.m. 32.72 [32.70 32.74] 35.07 [35.05 35.09]
***
9 p.m. 29.15 [29.14 29.16] 30.09 [30.08 30.10]
***
10 p.m. 28.83 [28.82 28.84] 30.19 [30.18 30.20]
***
Fence(or wall); paint 12 p.m. 30.22 [30.18 30.26] 30.97 [30.94 31.01]
***
1 p.m. 31.13 [31.09 31.17] 30.59 [30.55 30.63]
***
2 p.m. 31.10 [31.07 31.13] 34.76 [34.72 34.80]
***
9 p.m. 29.06 [29.05 29.07] 29.50 [29.48 29.52]
***
10 p.m. 28.79 [28.78 28.80] 29.86 [29.84 29.87]
***
Fenestra 12 p.m. 30.83 [30.77 30.89] 34.35 [34.30 34.40]
***
1 p.m. 32.47 [32.40 32.54] 32.69 [32.66 32.72]
***
2 p.m. 31.59 [31.53 31.64] 39.32 [39.17 39.48]
***
9 p.m. 28.49 [24.47 28.52] 29.00 [28.97 29.03]
***
10 p.m. 28.44 28.42 28.47] 29.05 [29.03 29.07]
***
Ground 12 p.m. 32.49 [32.48 32.51] 36.28 [36.27 36.30]
***
1 p.m. 33.59 [33.58 33.60] 34.68 [34.67 34.69]
***
2 p.m. 34.13 [34.12 34.14] 41.18 [41.15 41.20]
***
9 p.m. 28.23 [28.22 28.23] 29.44 [29.44 29.45]
***
10 p.m. 27.94 [27.93 27.94] 29.71 [29.70 29.71]
***
Vegetation 12 p.m. 31.26 [31.23 31.29] 30.82 [30.78 30.81]
***
1 p.m. 31.27 [31.26 31.28] 30.10 [30.08 30.11]
***
2 p.m. 31.34 [31.32 31.35] 33.47 [33.44 33.49]
***
9 p.m. 28.53 [28.52 28.53] 28.42 [28.41 28.43]
***
10 p.m. 27.69 [27.69 27.70] 28.91 [28.90 28.92]
***
Other objects on street 12 p.m. 30.82 [30.79 30.86] 36.23 [36.18 36.27]
***
1 p.m. 34.88 [34.80 34.96] 34.48 [34.46 34.51]
***
2 p.m. 33.69 [33.60 33.78] 39.65 [39.60 39.70]
***
9 p.m. 28.75 [28.72 28.78] 29.25 [29.23 29.28]
***
10 p.m. 27.74 [27.71 27.78] 29.60 [29.58 29.61]
***
Significant at 1%.
186 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190
Fig. 6. The radiant temperature of the physical elements.
residential street (32.11  C) during daytime. At 1:00 p.m., the
radiant temperature of the brick and painted walls on the green
parking street was slightly higher than the temperature on the
conventional residential street, while the wall temperature of the
conventional residential street was higher than that of the green
parking street at 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. At night, the radiant
temperature of the wall in the conventional street was slightly
higher the temperature in the green parking street.
With regard to fenestra, the radiant temperature of the green
parking street was 3.83  C lower than the temperature of the
fenestra on the conventional residential street during daytime.
Between 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m., the surface temperature of the
fenestra in the green parking street ranged from 30.83  C to
32.47  C, whereas the temperature in the conventional residential
street ranged from 32.69  C to 39.32  C. The materials of the
fenestra at two sites were distinguishable. On the conventional
residential street, steel was the main material used for the front
entrances and the frames of the windows of the detached houses.
In the green parking street, a plastic frame was often used for the
fenestra. The radiant temperature of the fenestra quickly decreased
after sunset. At night, the difference in the temperature of fenestra
was less than 1.0  C.
The radiant surface temperature of the ground pavement on the
green parking street ranged from 32.49  C to 34.13  C, while the
temperature on the conventional residential street ranged from
36.28  C to 41.18  C during the day. At 2:00 p.m., the mean surface
temperature of the conventional residential street was 41.18  C,
which was the highest temperature we recorded. At 12:00 p.m.,
1:00 p.m., and 2:00 p.m., the mean surface temperature of the
ground pavement on the green parking street was 3.79  C, 1.09  C,
and 7.05  C lower, respectively, than the temperature of the con-
ventional residential street. It seems clear that the different pave-
ment materials at the two sites affected their mean surface
temperatures. The ground pavement of the green parking street
was made of gray-colored neo-stone, which has higher albedo and
permeability and lower heat flux (Alchapar, Correa, & Canto
n, 2014)
than conventional asphalt pavement. Just like the fenestra, the
radiant surface temperature of the ground pavement sharply
declined at night. The radiant temperature of the conventional
residential street was higher than the temperature of the green
parking street, but the average temperature was less than 30  C.
The physical element with the lowest mean temperature was
vegetated area. The radiant temperature of the vegetated areas on
the green parking street ranged from 31.26  C to 31.34  C, and the
temperature on the conventional residential street ranged
30.10  Ce33.47  C. Overall, the difference of the radiant tempera-
ture between the two study sites was relatively small (0.17  C)
during the day.
The other objects on the streets were, mainly, vehicles at the
parking curbs and streetlights. Overall, the radiant temperature of
the other objects on the green parking street was 3.65  C lower than
the temperature on the conventional residential street during the
daytime. The radiant temperature of these other objects on the
green parking street ranged from 30.82  C to 33.69  C, whereas
their temperatures on the conventional residential street ranged
from 34.48  C to 39.65  C during the daytime. Heat radiating from a
vehicle’s engine can increase the surface temperature of the ground
(Takebayashi & Moriyama, 2009), and parked vehicles on the street
are directly exposed to the sunlight, becoming easily heated since
the heat flux of a vehicle’s is materials high (Scott, Simpson, &
McPherson, 1999). Therefore, the parked vehicles on the conven-
tional street were the primary source of higher radiant
temperatures.
In summary, our analysis showed that the radiant temperature
of the ground pavement, fenestra, and other objects on the green
parking street were lower than the temperatures of these objects
on the conventional residential street during the daytime. At night,
the radiant temperature quickly declined and the difference in
radiant temperature between the two sites was small. Differences
in the materials comprising the ground pavement, the fenestra, and
the heat radiating from parked cars on the street were the main
sources of the higher radiant temperature of the conventional
residential street. Among the five physical elements of the street,
the vegetated area had the lowest mean temperature, and the
vegetated areas in the two streets did not show a considerable
difference in the radiant temperature.
4.2. Percentage of an area occupied by each physical element
Table 3 represents the percentage of an area occupied by each
element in the two streets, as captured in the photographed im-
ages. The ground pavement was the element that occupied the
largest area. Approximately a quarter of the images of the street
were classified as ground pavement. The two study sites did not
 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190 187

show a notable level of difference in terms of the percentage of 5. Discussion

ground pavement area.
In contrast, the percentage of the vegetated area on the green
parking street was substantially higher than that on the conven-
tional residential street. On the green parking street, the percentage
of vegetated area in the photographed images at the enter-, mid-,
and end-points was 34.32%, 10.69%, and 11.09%, respectively. The
percentage in the conventional residential street at enter-, mid-,
and end-points was 4.34%, 2.05%, and 5.18%, respectively. On
average, 18.70% of the area of the photographed images in the green
parking street were vegetated area, whereas the percentage of
vegetated area in the conventional residential street images totaled
just 3.86%. Another sharp contrast was “other objects on street.” In
the green parking street, the percentage of an area occupied by
other objects at the three spots was 1.32%, 1.12%, and 2.25%, while,
in the conventional residential street, it was 13.57%, 15.96%, and
6.18%. On average, the percentage of an area occupied by other
objects was 11.9% on the conventional residential street, and that
percentage was 10.34% higher than the percentage for the green
parking street.
Overall, the results indicated that, from a pedestrian’s perspec-
tive, the green parking project might significantly alter the expo-
sure of each physical element on the streets, which have different
radiant surface temperatures. Pedestrian exposure to the element
with a higher radiant temperature decreases by moving a parked
car from the street to the private property, where exposure to el-
ements having a lower radiant temperature (i.e., vegetation)
increases.
4.3. Daytime shadow pattern
We also investigated the daytime shadow patterns on two
streets using 3D simulation. Except for the existence of fences on
property boundaries, the overall layout of the two streets was
similar in terms of the height of their buildings, the orientation of
each street, and the size of their detached houses (Fig. 7). Along the
conventional residential street, fences of 3e4 m in height create an
urban street canyon; by contrast, the green parking street has an
opened structure for pedestrians. The size and shape of the shadow
umbrella at the two study sites were similar, but the shadowing on
those ground surfaces exposed to pedestrians had a different
pattern. On the conventional street at 2 p.m., the shadow cast by
the detached houses stayed behind the fences, and the shadow in
the street mostly affected the area of the curbed parking lots. On the
other hand, on the green parking street, the detached houses cast
shadows over the pedestrian walkways, exposing the pedestrian to
the shadow umbrella of the private property.
Our results showed that the radiant temperatures of the ground
pavement and fenestra on the green parking street were lower than
the radiant temperatures on the conventional residential street.
The use of highly reflective materials in the green parking village
reduced the surface temperatures there. The selection of materials
that compose the urban environment also plays an important role
in the reduction of urban overheating (Alchapar et al., 2014). The
frequent use of plastic frames in the green parking street and the
gray-colored neo-stone for pavement materials both contribute to
reducing the radiant temperatures of residential streets. One of the
implementations of green parking policy involves replacing the
pavement of existing surfaces with more attractive and
environment-friendly materials, allowing residents who live along
the street to select the pavement materials (Ryu, Jung, Shimizu, Oh,
& Hoyano, 2012). Using pavement materials with higher albedo and
lower heat flux than asphalt pavement lowers the surface tem-
peratures of ground pavement on the green parking street, showing
a direct influence of the green parking policy on the thermal
environment of this residential street. Since parked vehicles on the
street are a source of high radiant temperature (Scott et al., 1999;
Takebayashi & Moriyama, 2009), removing the parked vehicles,
which emit high radiant heat from the street, was another contri-
bution of the policy to reducing the sources of heat on the public
street. The green parking project also increased elements with
lower radiant temperatures, such as vegetation, by changing the
physical configuration of the street. Because of the project, pedes-
trian exposure to vegetation increased from 3.9% to 18.7%.
Indeed, increased shading has been reported as a main reason
for reduced levels of heat discomfort in cities (Jamei et al., 2016;
Matzarakis et al., 2007). For the current study, we intentionally
chose two residential streets with similar orientations and street
canyon aspect ratios. Our 3D models of daytime shadow patterns
demonstrated that the green parking project provided slightly
increased shading on the ground surface for pedestrians, which, in
turn, reduced pedestrian exposure to the high radiant temperature
of pavement. Ryu et al. (2012) addressed the possibility that the
presence of fences in residential areas might block solar radiation
during the daytime and reduce radiant temperatures at the street
level. However, our simulation results showed that the effect of
fences were mostly masked by the shading effect of the detached
buildings.
Compared to the daytime results, the radiant temperature of
each physical element did not show significant difference between
the two study sites at nighttime. This result is consistent with the
findings of previous studies that examined the temporal changes of
radiant temperature (Jusuf et al., 2007; Lo, Quattrochi, & Luvall,

Table 3
The percentage of an area occupied by each physical element area at three spots.

Site Enter- point Mid-point End-point Mean percentage

Fence; wall Brick Green parking street 6.68 15.62 7.12 9.81
Conventional residential street 14.81 19.13 12.6 15.51
Paint Green parking street 4.57 2.27 8.99 5.28
Conventional residential street 2.74 2.73 4.6 3.35
Fenestra Green parking street 0.39 1.17 2.01 1.19
Conventional residential street 1.03 0.56 1.64 1.08
Ground Green parking street 22.36 33.86 32.91 29.71
Conventional residential street 26.28 19.91 35.11 27.1
Vegetation Green parking street 34.32 10.69 11.09 18.7
Conventional residential street 4.34 2.05 5.18 3.86
Other objects on street Green parking street 1.32 1.12 2.25 1.56
Conventional residential street 13.57 15.96 6.18 11.9
188 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190
Fig. 7. 3D models of the sun-path and daytime shadow pattern on the street at (a) 12 p.m., (b) 1 p.m. and (3) 2 p.m.
1997; Ryu et al., 2012; Shashua-Bar, Tsiros, & Hoffman, 2012). By
nature, variations of radiant temperature are significant in the
daytime because they largely depend on solar radiation. After 2
p.m., solar radiation is significantly reduced, which leads to a sharp
decrease in the radiant temperature (Shashua-Bar et al., 2012). This
result is different from the findings in the literature examining
urban-rural temperature differences (Moreno-garcia, 1994; Wilby,
2003). For instance, Moreno-garcia (1994) showed that the city
center in Barcelona, Spain was 2.9  C warmer at night than the
periphery of the city, while the center was slightly cooler than the
periphery during the daytime. Since the two study sites in our
study were selected from urbanized areas of the city, temperature
variations between the city center and periphery were not main
subject of this study.
This study has several methodological limitations. First, we
examined how the green parking project on a residential
street altered the radiant temperature of elements exposed to pe-
destrians, but we did not directly address pedestrian thermal
comfort in our study. Although many studies have shown that
radiant surface temperatures affect pedestrian thermal comfort by
reducing air temperature (Santamouris et al., 2012; Synnefa et al.,
2011; Taleghani, Kleerekoper, Tenpierik, & van den Dobbelsteen,
2015; Thorsson et al., 2014), several studies have reported that
the cooling potential of reflective materials on air temperature is
small or negligible (Shahidan, Jones, Gwilliam, & Salleh, 2012;
Yaghoobian & Kleissl, 2012). The measurement of outdoor ther-
mal comfort in an urban environment is a complex issue related to
various factors, including wind speed, surface air temperature, and
air humidity (Chen & Ng, 2012), but this study did not collect all of
the meteorological data necessary for estimating outdoor thermal
comfort. Combining an assessment of thermal comfort perception
and microclimate simulation techniques may improve the reli-
ability of these findings and uncover more practical implications for
the design of urban spaces.
Second, we collected thermal measurements at three spots on
each street during the daytime and at night, but we did not include
a complete 24-h temperature profile. The use of a thermal infrared
camera in multiple spots offered the advantage of collecting vast
amounts of cell-based radiant temperature data at one time, but it
limited our ability to gather complete temporal patterns of tem-
perature data. To enhance the validity of these findings, it is
important to establish a more sufficient temperature database.
Third, we could not completely control for external factors that
may affect radiant temperature. For instance, the width of the
conventional residential street was slightly wider than that of the
green parking village. A before-after longitudinal study that con-
trols the characteristics of the built environment would be an
alternative research design. With a longitudinal study design,
however, more complicated methodological issues arise with re-
gard to controlling numerous climatological parameters across
multiple periods of measurement. To control those parameters, we
intentionally selected two streets in the same neighborhood and
applied a cross-sectional design. Finally, as a microclimate study,
this study has limitations in the standardization and generaliz-
ability of the findings (Erell, 2008; Oke, 1984) since the effects of
policy on thermal condition is context-dependent. For instance, the
size of overshadowing increases in proportion with the geograph-
ical latitude of the location where the solar altitude correspond-
ingly decreases (Jamei et al., 2016). To provide more concrete
guidelines for urban planning, further studies should be conducted
in cities with diverse climate conditions.
 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190
6. Conclusions
The green parking project was initiated in 1996 to solve the
problem of a shortage of parking spaces in residential areas and to
improve the quality of outdoor public spaces. It quickly became one
of the most important strategies for the urban regeneration of old
residential blocks in Korea. This study aimed to examine how those
projects have changed pedestrian exposure to the radiant tem-
peratures of outdoor spaces. The results showed that pedestrian
exposure to high radiant temperatures can be decreased in three
ways. First, the radiant temperature of some physical elements in
the green parking street were lower than the temperatures of the
conventional street. Second, because of the project, the propor-
tional area of “cool” elements exposed to pedestrians tended to
increase while “hot” elements decreased. Third, the daytime
shadow pattern cast by buildings generated slightly increased
shading on the ground surface for pedestrians, also decreasing
temperatures.
Our findings are inconclusive yet. Despite the limitations in the
generalizability of our findings, however, the practical implications
of this study lie in its provision of a preliminary understanding of
how a policy to modify the built environment of a residential street
and create parking spaces can affect the thermal environment of
outdoor spaces exposed to pedestrians. Asian cities, including this
study area, commonly undergo rapid climate change. Concerns
over threats to the health of urban population (Kovats & Akhtar,
2008) and a shortage of parking spaces have increased in devel-
oping regions that are experiencing rapid urbanization and
motorization (Barter, 2011). This study demonstrated that the
concept of a green parking policy in Korea does have the potential
to ameliorate parking shortages as well as to reduce urban heat
islands in residential areas.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Technology Advancement Research
Program (15CTAP-C078783-02) funded by Ministry of Land, Infra-
structure and Transport of Korean government.
References
Ackerman, B. (1985). Temporal march of the Chicago heat island. Journal of Climate
and Applied Meteorology, 24(6), 547e554.
Ahmed, K. S. (2003). Comfort in urban spaces: defining the boundaries of outdoor
thermal comfort for the tropical urban environments. Energy and Buildings,
35(1), 103e110.
Alchapar, N. L., Correa, E. N., & Canto
n, M. A. (2014). Classification of building ma-
terials used in the urban envelopes according to their capacity for mitigation of
the urban heat island in semiarid zones. Energy and Buildings, 69, 22e32.
Ali-Toudert, F., & Mayer, H. (2007). Effects of asymmetry, galleries, overhanging
façades and vegetation on thermal comfort in urban street canyons. Solar En-
ergy, 81(6), 742e754.
Baek, S., Kim, Y., & Lee, J. (2010). Analyzing the effects of the wall removal project on
the sense of community and safety in residential area. Journal of the Korean
regional development association, 22(1), 181e199.
Barter, P. A. (2011). Parking policy in Asian cities: Report to Asian development bank.
Ca, V. T., Asaeda, T., & Abu, E. M. (1998). Reductions in air conditioning energy
caused by a nearby park. Energy and Buildings, 29(1), 83e92.
Chang, C. R., & Li, M. H. (2014). Effects of urban parks on the local urban thermal
environment. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 13(4), 672e681.
Charalampopoulos, I., Tsiros, I., Chronopoulou-Sereli, A., & Matzarakis, A. (2013).
Analysis of thermal bioclimate in various urban configurations in Athens,
Greece. Urban Ecosystems, 16(2), 217e233.
Chen, L., & Ng, E. (2012). Outdoor thermal comfort and outdoor activities: a review
of research in the past decade. Cities, 29(2), 118e125.
Erell, E. (2008). The application of urban climate research in the design of cities.
Advances in Building Energy Research, 2(1), 95e121.
Feyisa, G. L., Dons, K., & Meilby, H. (2014). Efficiency of parks in mitigating urban
heat island effect: an example from Addis Ababa. Landscape and Urban Planning,
123, 87e95.
Giridharan, R., Ganesan, S., & Lau, S. S. Y. (2004). Daytime urban heat island effect in
high-rise and high-density residential developments in Hong Kong. Energy and
189
Buildings, 36(6), 525e534.
He, J., Hoyano, A., & Asawa, T. (2009). A numerical simulation tool for predicting the
impact of outdoor thermal environment on building energy performance.
Applied Energy, 86(9), 1596e1605.
Henderson, V. (2002). Urbanization in developing countries. The World Bank
Research Observer, 17(1), 89e112.
Hong, B., & Lin, B. (2015). Numerical studies of the outdoor wind environment and
thermal comfort at pedestrian level in housing blocks with different building
layout patterns and trees arrangement. Renewable Energy, 73, 18e27.
Jamei, E., Rajagopalan, P., Seyedmahmoudian, M., & Jamei, Y. (2016). Review on the
impact of urban geometry and pedestrian level greening on outdoor thermal
comfort. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 54, 1002e1017.
Johansson, E. (2006). Influence of urban geometry on outdoor thermal comfort in a
hot dry climate: a study in Fez, Morocco. Building and environment, 41(10),
1326e1338.
Jusuf, S. K., Wong, N. H., Hagen, E., Anggoro, R., & Hong, Y. (2007). The influence of
land use on the urban heat island in Singapore. Habitat International, 31(2),
232e242.
Kim, S., Kim, J., & Hwang, H. (2011). Analysis of resident consciousness regarding the
effectiveness of the wall removal project for prevention of crime. Journal of the
Urban Design Institute of Korea, 12(1), 5e20.
Kim, B., & Park, J. (2013). Effect of the elements of physical variation after wall
removal project in Detached houses on the natural surveillance and fear of
crime. Journal of the Urban Design Institute of Korea, 14(3), 119e130.
Kim, B., & Park, J. (2014). A study on the easiness of crime according to the presence
or absence of a wall in the Detached housing area: focusing on the Burglars.
Korean Urban Management Association, 27(1), 51e69.
Klemm, W., Heusinkveld, B. G., Lenzholzer, S., Jacobs, M. H., & Van Hove, B. (2015).
Psychological and physical impact of urban green spaces on outdoor thermal
comfort during summertime in The Netherlands. Building and Environment, 83,
120e128.
Ko, E., Lee, K., & Ahn, K. (2006). Effects of changes in pedestrian environment on the
sense of community by the wall removal project e focused on the case of
Siheung 3-dong, Seoul. Journal of the Urban Design Institute of Korea, 7(4),
77e86.
Koo, J., & Kim, S. (2009). A study on features of social activities and participants
which depend on physical milieu of street in Green Parking areas. Journal of the
Urban Design Institute of Korea, 10(3), 181e194.
Kovats, S., & Akhtar, R. (2008). Climate, climate change and human health in Asian
cities. Environment and Urbanization, 20(1), 165e175.
Krüger, E. L., Minella, F. O., & Rasia, F. (2011). Impact of urban geometry on outdoor
thermal comfort and air quality from field measurements in Curitiba, Brazil.
Building and Environment, 46(3), 621e634.
Lin, T. P., Matzarakis, A., & Hwang, R. L. (2010). Shading effect on long-term outdoor
thermal comfort. Building and Environment, 45(1), 213e221.
Lo, C. P., Quattrochi, D. A., & Luvall, J. C. (1997). Application of high-resolution
thermal infrared remote sensing and GIS to assess the urban heat island ef-
fect. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 18(2), 287e304.
Matzarakis, A., Rutz, F., & Mayer, H. (2007). Modelling radiation fluxes in simple and
complex environmentsdapplication of the RayMan model. International Journal
of Biometeorology, 51(4), 323e334.
McPherson, E. G. (2001). Sacramento’s parking lot shading ordinance: environ-
mental and economic costs of compliance. Landscape and Urban Planning, 57(2),
05e123.
Moreno-garcia, M. C. (1994). Intensity and form of the urban heat island in Bar-
celona. International Journal of Climatology, 14(6), 705e710.
Nakamura, M., Shoji, A., & Muneta, Y. (2007). A study on the location of parking: a
case study in the central part of Kyoto. In Summaries of technical papers of
annual meeting architectural institute of Japan (pp. 893e894) (in Japanese).
Oke, T. R. (1984). Towards a prescription for the greater use of climatic principles in
settlement planning. Energy and Buildings, 7(1), 1e10.
Onishi, A., Cao, X., Ito, T., Shi, F., & Imura, H. (2010). Evaluating the potential for
urban heat-island mitigation by greening parking lots. Urban forestry & Urban
greening, 9(4), 323e332.
Park, I. (2006). A study on the utility conditions and efficient utility of detached
housing area, Laying stress on the public-land development district in Jeonju
city. Journal of the Residential Environmental Institute of Korea, 4(2), 15e31.
Pearlmutter, D., Berliner, P., & Shaviv, E. (2006). Physical modeling of pedestrian
energy exchange within the urban canopy. Building and Environment, 41(6),
783e795.
Pearlmutter, D., Berliner, P., & Shaviv, E. (2007). Integrated modeling of pedestrian
energy exchange and thermal comfort in urban street canyons. Building and
Environment, 42(6), 2396e2409.
Perini, K., & Magliocco, A. (2014). Effects of vegetation, urban density, building
height, and atmospheric conditions on local temperatures and thermal comfort.
Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 13(3), 495e506.
Ryu, J., Jung, E., Shimizu, A., Oh, S., & Hoyano, A. (2012). Evaluation of thermal
environment of external space following the fence demolition campaign in
Detached housing area. Journal of Korean housing Association, 23(1), 19e26.
Santamouris, M., Gaitani, N., Spanou, A., Saliari, M., Giannopoulou, K.,
Vasilakopoulou, K., et al. (2012). Using cool paving materials to improve
microclimate of urban areaseDesign realization and results of the flisvos
project. Building and Environment, 53, 128e136.
Scott, K. I., Simpson, J. R., & McPherson, E. G. (1999). Effects of tree cover on parking
lot microclimate and vehicle emissions. Journal of Arboriculture, 25(3), 129e142.
190 J.-H. Park et al. / Habitat International 56 (2016) 181e190
Shahidan, M. F., Jones, P. J., Gwilliam, J., & Salleh, E. (2012). An evaluation of outdoor
and building environment cooling achieved through combination modification
of trees with ground materials. Building and Environment, 58, 245e257.
Shahidan, M. F., Shariff, M. K., Jones, P., Salleh, E., & Abdullah, A. M. (2010).
A comparison of Mesua ferrea L. and Hura crepitans L. for shade creation and
radiation modification in improving thermal comfort. Landscape and Urban
Planning, 97(3), 168e181.
Shashua-Bar, L., Pearlmutter, D., & Erell, E. (2011). The influence of trees and grass
on outdoor thermal comfort in a hot-arid environment. International Journal of
Climatology, 31(10), 1498e1506.
Shashua-Bar, L., Tsiros, I. X., & Hoffman, M. (2012). Passive cooling design options to
ameliorate thermal comfort in urban streets of a Mediterranean climate (Ath-
ens) under hot summer conditions. Building and Environment, 57, 110e119.
Skoulika, F., Santamouris, M., Kolokotsa, D., & Boemi, N. (2014). On the thermal
characteristics and the mitigation potential of a medium size urban park in
Athens, Greece. Landscape and Urban Planning, 123, 73e86.
Srivanit, M., & Hokao, K. (2013). Evaluating the cooling effects of greening for
improving the outdoor thermal environment at an institutional campus in the
summer. Building and Environment, 66, 158e172.
Synnefa, A., Karlessi, T., Gaitani, N., Santamouris, M., Assimakopoulos, D. N., &
Papakatsikas, C. (2011). Experimental testing of cool colored thin layer asphalt
and estimation of its potential to improve the urban microclimate. Building and
Environment, 46(1), 38e44.
Taha, H. (1997). Urban climates and heat islands: albedo, evapotranspiration, and
anthropogenic heat. Energy and buildings, 25(2), 99e103.
Takebayashi, H., & Moriyama, M. (2009). Study on the urban heat island mitigation
effect achieved by converting to grass-covered parking. Solar Energy, 83(8),
1211e1223.
Taleb, H., & Taleb, D. (2014). Enhancing the thermal comfort on urban level in a
desert area: case study of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Urban Forestry & Urban
Greening, 13(2), 253e260.
Taleghani, M., Kleerekoper, L., Tenpierik, M., & van den Dobbelsteen, A. (2015).
Outdoor thermal comfort within five different urban forms in the Netherlands.
Building and Environment, 83, 65e78.
Tan, M., & Li, X. (2015). Quantifying the effects of settlement size on urban heat
islands in fairly uniform geographic areas. Habitat International, 49, 100e106.
Thorsson, S., Lindberg, F., Eliasson, I., & Holmer, B. (2007). Different methods for
estimating the mean radiant temperature in an outdoor urban setting. Inter-
national Journal of Climatology, 27(14), 1983e1993.
Thorsson, S., Rocklo €v, J., Konarska, J., Lindberg, F., Holmer, B., Dousset, B., et al.
(2014). Mean radiant temperatureeA predictor of heat related mortality. Urban
Climate, 10, 332e345.
Wilby, R. L. (2003). Past and projected trends in London’s urban heat island.
Weather, 58(7), 251e260.
Wong, J. K. W., & Lau, L. S. K. (2013). From the ‘urban heat island’to the ‘green is-
land’? A preliminary investigation into the potential of retrofitting green roofs
in Mongkok district of Hong Kong. Habitat International, 39, 25e35.
Wong, N. H., & Yu, C. (2005). Study of green areas and urban heat island in a tropical
city. Habitat International, 29(3), 547e558.
Yaghoobian, N., & Kleissl, J. (2012). Effect of reflective pavements on building energy
use. Urban Climate, 2, 25e42.
Yan, H., Fan, S., Guo, C., Wu, F., Zhang, N., & Dong, L. (2014). Assessing the effects of
landscape design parameters on intra-urban air temperature variability: the
case of Beijing, China. Building and environment, 76, 44e53.
Yang, F., Lau, S. S., & Qian, F. (2011). Thermal comfort effects of urban design stra-
tegies in high-rise urban environments in a sub-tropical climate. Architectural
Science Review, 54(4), 285e304.