Impact of urban land use and land cover change on urban heat island and urban thermal comfort level: a case study of Addis Ababa City, Ethiopia

The increase in the urban heat island is caused by the replacement of vegetation cover by impervious surfaces. As the population of Addis Ababa City has increased dramatically, the vegetation cover and other land cover classes have been converted into built-up areas. This study attempted to examine the relationship between urban heat islands and urban thermal comfort (UTCL) and land use and land cover (LULC) change using geospatial technologies in Addis Ababa City, Ethiopia. Landsat TM 1991, Landsat ETM + 2005, and Landsat OLI/TIRS 2021 data were used in this study. During the study period, LULC change, land surface temperature (LST), and urban heat island were calculated using the multispectral and thermal infrared bands (1991–2021). Results revealed that the built-up area in 1991 was 96.6 km² (18.3%), and increased to 165.4 km² (31.4%) and 277.2 km² (52.6%) by 2005 and 2021, respectively. In contrast, agriculture and vegetation land cover classes were declined by 66.8 km² and 25.7 km², respectively between 1991 and 2021. Rapid conversion of LULC change increases the mean LST of Addis Ababa City by 8.3 °C over the last three decades. According to the results, a high LST was recorded over built-up regions and areas with little vegetative cover. Furthermore, the central areas of the study area suffered a greater UHI effect than the surrounding areas. The results of the urban thermal field variance index (UTFVI) revealed that the UHI varies greatly across the city. Strong, stronger, and strongest urban heat islands dominated the central, southwestern, and southeastern suburbans of the study area, respectively. The excellent comfort level has declined from 16.3 km² (3.1%) in 1991 to 12.1 km² (2.3%) in 2021. The study proposed that local community awareness needs to be raised for environmental conservation through the establishment of urban green spaces that reduce UHI and increase comfort in Addis Ababa City.