Urban Parks Shown to Cool Cities and Reduce Pollution Beyond Their Boundaries, Study Finds
By Community Correspondent
Urban parks don’t just offer a break from city life — they can actively cool nearby streets and reduce pollution well beyond their edges, according to new research published in City and Environment Interactions.
The study used high-frequency monitoring to measure changes in air temperature, particle pollution and noise around green spaces in real-world conditions.
Researchers focused on Stoke Park in Guildford, Surrey — a 52-hectare site made up of grassland, trees and gardens.
Inside the park, morning levels of PM10 pollution were more than 11% lower than in nearby built-up areas. Temperatures were also cooler, with a 6.5% reduction recorded in the morning compared with surrounding streets.
That cooling effect didn’t stop at the park boundary.
Temperatures were found to rise by more than 0.5°C for every 100 metres away from the edge of the park, with the influence extending up to 300 metres into surrounding neighbourhoods.
Noise levels followed a similar pattern. Within the park, sound was reduced by 5.41 decibels compared with areas closer to roads — a difference most people would likely notice in everyday conditions.
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The type of green space also mattered. Areas with more trees and grass helped improve thermal comfort, reducing what researchers call Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) by up to 8.5°C compared with nearby built-up streets.
Researchers say the findings give a clearer picture of how urban parks perform during summer conditions, not just within their boundaries but across wider neighbourhoods.
They suggest the results could help city planners make stronger use of green infrastructure when designing more climate-resilient urban areas.
The study forms part of the NERC–FAPESP GreenCities project and builds on wider work led by Professor Kumar’s GCARE team through UKRI-funded initiatives including RECLAIM Network Plus and GP4Streets.
