Cool walkable and cyclable community planning for heat-resilient transportation system: An empirical analysis

Eco-friendly transportation methods like walking and cycling contribute substantially to sustainable urban development. However, the escalating frequency of extreme heat episodes has negatively affected the thermal environment of slow-paced areas, thereby diminishing people's desire to walk or cycle. This study constructed a framework of a heat-resilient slow-paced transportation system from characteristics, core principles, key elements, and implementation pathways. The aim is to empirically identify heat-resistant routes for walking and cycling during extreme heat spells, thereby enabling individuals to make orderly and well-informed travel decisions. The feasibility of this framework was then validated through onsite measurements and software simulations at Chongqing University, China. By integrating thermal comfort and heat risk, the study pinpointed heat-prone zones in slow-paced areas during critical hours (e.g., 8:00, 14:00 and 18:00), and proposed suggestions for optimizing thermal comfort in these heat-prone areas. The study further calculated the cumulative thermal stress at different hours to offer thermally safe routes for travelers at various times and under diverse transportation modes. For heat-prone routes, the study offered information on cooling spots, including a travel schedule and cumulative heat load between those spots. Overall, this study provides new insights into heat resilience and how to plan thermally healthy, comfortable, and sustainable travel environments in progressively warming cities and communities.