A comprehensive framework of cooling effect-accessibility-urban development to assessing and planning park cooling services

With increasing global warming and urbanization, extreme heat events threaten the health of urban dwellers. Urban parks can alleviate severe urban heating, but previous research on park cooling effect has largely involved single-dimension analysis and lacked a multi-dimensional perspective that explores the equity of park cooling services. To address the issue, this study proposes a comprehensive framework of cooling effect–accessibility–urban development for assessing and planning 113 urban parks in Nanjing, China. The results show an unequal distribution of the park cooling services index (PCSI), which decreases outward from the city center to surrounding areas, with an average PCSI within the ring road 1.34 times higher than outside. The value of the cooling effect was relatively low, with the two lowest levels accounting for 65.5%, and the parks with low values of accessibility and urban development were concentrated outside the ring road. Additionally, increasing the park area, Normalized difference vegetation index of vegetated area, and blue-green proportion could effectively enhance the cooling effect. Four park cooling service types were identified according to supply-demand, as well as intervention strategies and adaptive planning measures were developed. This study constructed a new comprehensive framework for park cooling services to improve equity and promote urban parks.