Zagreb does not
heat up evenly.

Beyond a simple split
between concrete and green.

A city is not one uniform surface. Roofs, car parks, tree canopies, grassland and water receive solar energy and cool in different ways. Satellite imagery makes that mosaic visible.

Our interpretation connects the thermal pattern with urban form. We look at what remains between buildings: connected parkland or a series of small, paved plots.

Why are parts of
Novi Zagreb cooler?

In planned neighbourhoods, multi-storey buildings leave larger shared spaces between them. Where mature canopies and open soil remain, they provide better conditions for shade and evaporation than continuous asphalt.

The advantage does not come from building height alone. The continuity of green space matters: can people walk through shade, do trees have enough soil and water, and are green areas connected or broken up by large car parks?

This does not make all of Novi Zagreb cool. Large roofs, roads and exposed parking areas remain local heat hotspots. The map helps reveal differences within the same district.

Low-rise development
does not guarantee cooler space.

Houses with gardens can offer favourable microclimates. But where buildings fill their plots, yards become parking areas and streets lack canopy, low-rise development can contain extensive hot surfaces.

We therefore read Dubrava block by block. Denser development, gardens, parks and green edges create different conditions. A thermal image alone cannot quantify street ventilation; that requires orientation, heights, wind data and further analysis.

The design question is where to retain mature canopies, connect shade along everyday walking routes and free up soil so that new trees have room to establish.

Sealing the ground changes
the space above it.

Removing canopy exposes the ground to direct sun. Paving reduces the space through which water can enter the soil and return to the atmosphere through evaporation. Dry, unshaded surfaces then convert more of the energy they receive into heat.

Materials and buildings store some of that energy and release it later. The response therefore involves more than counting new trees: future canopy, rooting volume, water and the location of shade all matter.

Two years offer a comparison.
A trend needs a longer record.

The working Zagreb analysis includes summer median surface temperatures for 2013 and 2023 and the difference between them. This helps identify where thermal patterns may have changed.

A difference between two summers is not, by itself, a climate-warming rate or proof of the effect of new construction. Weather, soil moisture, available observations and processing also affect the result. A robust trend needs more years and consistent methods.