Socialism, Green Socialism: Evaluating the Impact of Urban Morphology on Microclimate Regulation

This study analyses surface thermal patterns across five residential neighbourhoods in Zagreb, Croatia, using multi-temporal Landsat 8/9 thermal infrared imagery to retrieve Land Surface Temperature (LST). Transectbased thermal profiling examines how urban form and the configuration of urban green infrastructure influence micro-scale thermal behaviour during peak summer conditions. Results show a consistent divergence in LST linked to construction era, planning scale, and surface permeability. Socialist-era neighbourhoods, planned at district or neighbourhood scale with integrated green space, systematically record lower temperatures than postsocialist infill, developed at finer planning granularities with reduced permeability. The spatial continuity of urban green infrastructure (UGI), rather than total green coverage, emerges as the decisive cooling factor, with district-scale parks functioning as thermal anchors well beyond their immediate boundaries. These findings provide a data-driven basis for climate-responsive retrofitting of Zagreb’s residential zones.