Study on the relationship between urban land sprawl extension and urban thermal environment—taking Wuhan city as an example

In the twenty-first century, Wuhan has become one of the most rapidly developing cities in the world, accompanied by the changes of urban climate and environment. In order to explore the relationship between land extension and urban thermal environment in a quantitative way, the expansion of construction land in the southeast of Wuhan city was simulated using mesoscale weather forecasting model (WRF) of urban canopy model (UCM), based on Wuhan’s geographical information, climate characteristics, urban function layout, regional development planning goals, and the equivalent of artificial energy consumption indicators. By summarizing and processing the calculated data, a series of meteorological values at key time points and during time periods were derived. Through quantitative analysis and comparison, conclusions about the effect of land spread in southeast of the city on urban microclimate in summer were obtained, which provides the theoretical basis for making the expansion strategy of construction land in Wuhan.