Urban Heat Island Vulnerability Assessment Using Remote Sensing and Land Surface Temperature Analysis: Evidence from Southern Mehrabad, Tehran

Abstract

Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) pose escalating threats to public health, energy systems, and quality of life in rapidly urbanizing cities of the Global South. This paper presents a remote sensing-based thermal diagnostic of Southern Mehrabad—a socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhood in southwestern Tehran located adjacent to Mehrabad Airport, one of the city's most significant heat sources. Using ten-year Landsat 8/9 satellite imagery, Land Surface Temperature (LST) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) data were extracted and spatially analyzed across the neighborhood. Findings reveal persistent high-temperature clusters in commercial and industrial zones, and a strong inverse correlation between vegetation cover and surface temperature (R²=0.63). The study demonstrates how satellite-derived thermal mapping, validated through field surveys, can systematically identify UHI hotspots in under-resourced urban neighborhoods. Results provide a data-driven baseline for evidence-based climate-responsive urban planning in comparable Global South contexts.