A GIS-Based Climate-Responsive Urban Planning Framework for Urban Heat Island Mitigation in Rapidly Urbanizing Tier-II Indian Cities: Evidence from Gwalior

Abstract

Rapid urbanization has intensified the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect across India's Tier-II cities, where climate responsive planning is often inadequately integrated into statutory planning frameworks. Although numerous studies have  assessed urban thermal patterns using geospatial techniques, limited research has translated these findings into transferable  planning frameworks applicable to rapidly urbanizing intermediate cities. This study addresses this gap by developing a  GIS-based climate-responsive urban planning framework for UHI mitigation, using Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, as a  representative Tier-II Indian city. Multi-temporal Landsat-8 imagery (2016 and 2026) was analysed to evaluate Land  Use/Land Cover (LULC), Land Surface Temperature (LST), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and  Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI). The results reveal a substantial increase in built-up area from 25.36% to  43.36%, accompanied by significant reductions in vegetation, agricultural land, and open spaces, leading to the expansion  of high-temperature zones. A moderate negative correlation between NDVI and LST and a positive relationship between  NDBI and LST demonstrate that vegetation loss and increasing impervious surfaces are key drivers of thermal  intensification. Based on these findings, the study proposes a climate-responsive planning framework integrating green  infrastructure, blue-green networks, cool materials, ventilation corridors, and climate-sensitive development regulations  into statutory planning processes. While demonstrated through the Gwalior case study, the proposed framework is  designed to be transferable to other rapidly urbanizing Tier-II Indian cities experiencing comparable land-use  transformations and climate challenges, thereby supporting sustainable, heat-resilient, and climate-responsive urban  development.