Impact of Land Cover Changes on Land Surface Temperature and Human Thermal Comfort in Dhaka City of Bangladesh

Abstract Urbanization leads to the construction of various urban infrastructures in the city area for residency, transportation, industry, and other purposes, which causes major land use change. Consequently, it substantially affects Land Surface Temperature (LST) by unbalancing the surface energy budget. Higher LST in city areas decreases human thermal comfort for the city dwellers and affects the urban environment and ecosystem. Therefore, a comprehensive investigation is needed to evaluate the impact of land use change on the LST. Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques were used for the detailed investigation. RS data for the years 1993, 2007 and 2020 during summer (March–May) in Dhaka city were used to prepare land cover maps, analyze LST, generate hazard maps…