Design-Translation Completeness in Urban Green-Space Climate-Adaptation Evidence: A Seventy-Six Case Study Audit

Abstract

The potential for urban green space as climate-adaptive assets is well established. However, what designers and other practitioners need from evidence about outdoor urban green spaces are findings that (a) identify manipulable variables, (b) are relevant at a relevant scale, (c) state the form of any transferable guidance, and (d) make clear how a finding can guide the practice of urban streets, squares, parks, and residential open spaces. The purpose of this study is to construct a Design-Translation Completeness Audit (DTCA) capable of identifying where there are losses in usability within a 76-case record of studies on outdoor urban green spaces and climate adaptation. The audit consists of organizing the evidence into the Design Translation Record, DTR-76, consisting of six layers of information, which are connected and nested: adaptation target, scale, research method, practitioner-facing output, design relevance, and transferability. The key test is whether the usability of the knowledge base is impaired primarily by the problem of coverage (topic), proximity, methods used, output conversion (how relevant knowledge is communicated), relevance, or transferability. Findings are that there is greater usability loss in the output-conversion layer than in the scale and relevance layers. Of the 76 studies, 49 address thermal comfort; 22 address urban heat-island mitigation or urban cooling; and 5 address stormwater management. Site-, street- and multiscale research account for 52 cases; controlled field studies account for 2. For 72 practitioner-focused outputs, 41 give insight, 17 give recommendation, 4 give guideline, 2 give design proposal, and 8 other types of structured outputs. Among 72 outputs, 64 are design-relevant, but only 23 are direct outputs. The Design Translation Completeness Index is 0.761; the operational conversion value is 0.345. The main finding is the specific finding of a loss in usability of evidence. Four quantitative targets arise from the audit: 13 more design insights need to be converted to guidance; 13 more stormwater studies are needed for one-fifth representation; 7 more controlled field studies are needed for one-tenth representation; and 5 medium transfer outputs should be upgraded to high transfer guidance.