Synergistic Effects of Urban Park Vegetation on Energy Conservation, Carbon Reduction, and Ecological Safety: A Case Study of Chongqing
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Urban parks ask vegetation to serve several masters at once: carbon storage, building energy savings through cooling, and urban ecological safety.How well these goals can be met together is the question we take up here, using Chongqing-a dense, mountainous city in southwestern China-as a case study.All figures come from published field measurements that we checked against their sources.A single Ficus concinna tree, for instance, saved roughly 2,290 kWh of electricity per year through transpiration cooling, which translates into about 1,442 kg of avoided indirect CO₂ emissions.The best-performing communities fixed 12,677.76g of carbon per day and stored 74,607.30kg.Multi-layered tree-shrub-herb stands were also better at holding soil, cutting the erosion modulus by 40.4% relative to tree-herb monocultures.Of all the heat-island drivers we examined, NDVI mattered most (q = 0.782).Chongqing's parks, however, are held back by low energy-carbon efficiency, overly uniform planting (tree-herb stands make up 57.94%), weak slope protection, and intensive maintenance.We close with four strategies: high-carbon multi-layered communities, stronger mountain protection, native near-natural planting, and improved spatial layout of green infrastructure.
Source: 南太湖新工科产业学报
Author: DU Kaiwei
Language: Chinese
Topic: Urban Heat Island Mitigation
Subfield: Environmental Engineering
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W7213619828