Natalia Hauenstein Eckert, Rafaela Basso Lima, Micaela Constança Flores Pedroso, Giovanna Pantz dos Santos, Sabreen Kai Kayed Mohammad Yousef Santos, Claudio Renato de Camargo Mello, Juan José Mascaró, Desalegn Yayeh Ayal, Ulisses M. Azeiteiro, Henri-Count Evans, Inga Grinfelde, José Baltazar Salgueirinho Osório de Andrade Guerra, Jasenka Gajdoš Kljusurić, João Carlos Correia Leitão, Chunlan Li, Newton R. Matandirotya, Bethwel Mutai, Gustavo J. Nagy, Thierry Razanakoto, Jame Schaefer, Goran Trbic, Roberto Ariel Abeldaño Zuñiga, Sane Pashane Zuka, Charles Galdies, Adriana Consorte-McCrea, Francisco Platas, Mittul Vahanvati, Pedi Obani, Safwatun Nida, Lucas Gabriel Zanon, Mayara Régia Sousa de Melo, Alison Glover, Roman Vakulchuk
Seen as a global concern, heat islands are one of the causes of the process of degradation of the quality of urban environments, which imply great effects on the well-being of citizens. Examples include air pollution, diseases associated with high temperatures, reduction of green areas, and also water quality. In light of this, the study aims to verify how scientific publications relate to the heat island theme in the contemporary context, analyzing the scopes of innovation in different fields. To this end, a qualitative analysis was carried out, with exploratory and descriptive design, by means of a bibliometric review in the last 5 years. The results obtained demonstrate that interest in mitigating urban heat islands can impact the environmental, social, and psychological well-being of residents. Finally, it can be seen that when considering the reduction of urban heat islands for the development of efficient innovations, new habit transformations can arise, such as the quantitative and qualitative increase of green areas, as well as the balanced organization of society and the environment. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2026.
The Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM) and Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal; Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Eswatini, Manzini, Kwaluseni Campus, Matsapha, South Africa; Institute of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Engineering, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies, Jelgava, Latvia; Center for Sustainable Development (Greens), Universidade do Sul de Santa Catarina (Unisul), Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Brazil; School of Urban and Regional Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China; Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience Centre, Beitbridge, Zimbabwe; Kgotso Development Trust, Beitbridge, Zimbabwe; Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay; CERED, University of Antananarivo, Antananarivo, Madagascar; Marquette University, Milwaukee, United States; University of Sierra Sur, Oaxaca, Mexico; University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland; Department of Land Economy, University of Malawi, The Polytechnic, Blantyre 3, Malawi; Institute of Earth Systems, University of Malta, Msida, Malta; Academy for Sustainable Futures, Canterbury Christ Church University, Kent, Canterbury, United Kingdom; Casa de Cultura de la UAEMéx en Tlalpan, Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, Ciudad de México, Mexico; School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia; University of Bradford, Bradford, United Kingdom; Science Education Department of Universitas Negeri Malang, Malang, Indonesia; University of São Paulo, São Carlos, Brazil; State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, Brazil; The Open University, Cardiff, United Kingdom; Norwegian Institute of International Affairs, Oslo, Norway; Postgraduate Program in Sociocultural Practices and Social Development and Architecture and Urbanism Course, University of Cruz Alta (UNICRUZ), Cruz Alta, Brazil; University of Cruz Alta (UNICRUZ), Cruz Alta, Brazil; University of Passo Fundo (UPF), Passo Fundo, Brazil; Center for Food Security Studies, College of Development Studies, Addis Ababa Univesity, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
