Multi-Scale Analysis of the Mitigation Effect of Green Space Morphology on Urban Heat Islands

Urban green spaces (UGS) serve as critical mitigators of urban heat islands (UHIs), yet the scale-dependent mechanisms through which UGS morphology regulates thermal effects remain insufficiently understood. This study investigates the multi-scale relationships between UGS spatial patterns and cooling effects in Macao, employing morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) to characterize UGS configurations and geographically weighted regression (GWR) to examine regional-scale thermal interactions, comple-mented by patch-scale buffer analyses of area-perimeter-landscape shape index effects. Results demonstrate that core UGS areas significantly enhance cooling capacity (core area proportion of ≥35% regions showing optimal performance), while fragmented elements (branches, edges) exacerbate UHIs, with patch-scale analyses revealing nonlinear threshold effects in cooling efficiency. A tripartite classification of UGS by cooling ca-pacity identifies strong mitigation types with optimal shape metrics and cooling ex-tents.The findings establish a tripartite UGS classification system based on cooling per-formance and identify optimal morphological parameters, advancing understanding of thermal regulation mechanisms in urban environments. This research provides empirical evidence for UGS planning strategies prioritizing core area conservation, morphological optimization, and seasonal adaptation to improve urban climate resilience, offering practical insights for sustainable development in high-density coastal cities.