Urban heatwave resilience in the Seoul metropolitan area: A resistibility-based assessment using local climate zone classification

Urban heat stress is increasingly exacerbated by the combined effects of climate change and urbanization, imposing considerable burdens on human thermal comfort and urban resilience. This study investigates the spatial variability of heat stress and associated resilience across urban morphological types by applying the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification framework to the Seoul metropolitan area and calculating the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) based on data from automatic weather stations. The analysis reveals that compact urban forms, particularly LCZ1 (Compact high-rise) and LCZ2 (Compact midrise), are associated with elevated UTCI values and prolonged exposure to heat stress, indicating lower levels of resilience. In contrast, land cover types such as LCZA (Dense trees) and LCZD (Low plants) exhibit consistently lower UTCI values and enhanced resilience to thermal extremes, albeit with greater spatial variability. Correlation analysis reveals statistically significant associations between urban physical parameters and resilience indices. These associations indicate that building height and surface coverage are negatively associated with heatwave resilience, whereas sky view factor and water surface ratio show positive associations. The green space ratio, however, does not exhibit a significant correlation, underscoring the necessity of qualitative vegetation attributes in resilience assessments. These findings highlight the importance of integrating human-centered thermal indices with urban morphological classification frameworks. By presenting a perception-informed and spatially explicit approach, this study contributes a practical framework for evaluating urban heat resilience and offers empirical insights for climate-adaptive urban planning and policy development in rapidly urbanizing regions.