Enhancing climate resilience through green infrastructure: integrating its multifunctionality for windstorm disaster reduction and thermal comfort enhancement

Abstract

Climate change is exacerbating the dual hazards of windstorms and urban heat islands (UHIs), posing a significant threat to urban resilience worldwide. Green infrastructure (GI), encompassing urban forests, windbreaks, green roofs, and bioswales, offers a multifunctional nature-based solution capable of simultaneously mitigating windstorm damage and enhancing thermal comfort. This study integrates GI’s aerodynamic and microclimatic functions to reduce disaster risk and improve livability. Using an integrated literature review approach, the review evaluates the GI concept and planning, GI and urban resilience, empirical review, and common themes relevant to GI and disaster risk reduction. Also, the Traits-Based resilience theory and the concept and theory of multifunctionality were reviewed. Relevant information demonstrates that strategically designed windbreaks reduce peak gust speeds, while dense tree canopies lower the temperature of the surrounding. These findings suggest actionable, evidence-based guidelines for environmental planners and policymakers, advancing GI as a cornerstone of climate-adaptive cities resilient to both windstorms and thermal extremes.