Publishing

I am an avid writer and I enjoy preparing, editing, and reviewing manuscripts on topics related to the urban environment.  I also take pleasure in writing about my travel and research experiences in foreign countries.  I have published my research in scholarly books, scientific journals, professional magazines, society newsletters, and industry reports.  I am currently writing in three areas of scholarship:  (i) the history of urban climatology; (ii) the use of field methods to identify Local Climate Zones in cities; and (iii) the application of urban climatic maps to spatial planning and climate-sensitive urban design.

As a critical thinker and philosophical mind, I naturally question the sources, methods, and authenticity of data used in the climate sciences.  I feel strongly that literature quality — not quantity alone — should reflect the stature of a field and the competence of its researchers, and that scientific communication should be rigorous, reliable, open, and ethical.  In my own critical assessment of these criteria in the urban heat island literature, I found its quality to be compromised by historical inaccuracies and poor scientific practices.

For a full list of publications, see my CV or Google Scholar profile. 

Books 

Stewart ID, Mills G.  2021.  The Urban Heat Island — A Guidebook.  Elsevier Inc.:  Amsterdam, NL.

Book chapters

Mills G, Futcher J, Stewart ID.  2021.  The urban heat island:  Its energetic basis and management.  IN: Palme M, Salvati A (eds.), Urban Microclimate Modelling for Comfort and Energy Studies.  Springer Nature.

Stewart ID, Kennedy CA, Facchini A.  2020.  Measuring progress toward sustainable megacities.  IN:  Sorenson A, Labbé D (eds.), Handbook of Megacities and Megacity Regions.  Edward Elgar:  Cheltenham, U.K.

Stewart ID, Oke TR.  2015.  Local climate zones and urban climatic mapping.  IN:  Ng E, Ren C (eds.), The Urban Climatic Map:  A Methodology for Sustainable Urban Planning.  Routledge:  London.

Articles in refereed journals (first or second author)

Mills G, Stewart ID, Niyogi D.  2022.  The origins of modern urban climate science:  Reflections on ‘A numerical model of the urban heat island.’  Progress in Physical Geography:  Earth and Environment 46, 649–56.

Roncancio DN, Stewart ID.  2022.  Urban climatic maps for environmental planning in Manizales, Colombia.  Cybergeo:  European Journal of Geography, 1013.

Stewart ID, Krayenhoff ES, Voogt JA, et al.  2021.  Time evolution of the surface urban heat island.  Earth’s Future 9:  e2021EF002178.

Stewart ID.  2019.  Why should urban climate researchers study history?  Urban Climate 30: 100484.

Stewart ID, Kennedy C, Facchini A, Mele R.  2018.  The electric city as a solution to sustainable urban development.  Journal of Urban Technology 25: 3–20.

Kennedy C, Stewart ID, Westphal MI, et al.  2018.  Keeping global climate change to within 1.5°C through net negative electric cities.  Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 30: 18–25.

Skarbit N, Stewart ID, Unger J, Gal T.  2017.  Employing an urban meteorological network to monitor air temperature conditions in the ‘local climate zones’ of Szeged, Hungary.  International Journal of Climatology 37 (S1): 582–596.

Stewart ID, Kennedy C.  2017.  Metabolic heat production by human and animal populations in cities.  International Journal of Biometeorology 61: 1159–71.

Kennedy C, Stewart ID, Facchini A, Mele R.  2017.  The role of utilities in developing low carbon, electric megacities.  Energy Policy 106: 122–8.

Kennedy C, Stewart ID, Facchini A, et al.  2015.  Energy and material flows of megacities.  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112, 5985–90.

Kennedy C, Stewart ID, Facchini A, et al.  2014.  Developing a multilayered indicator set for urban metabolism studies in megacities.  Ecological Indicators 47:  7–15.

Stewart ID, Oke TR, Krayenhoff ES.  2014.  Evaluation of the ‘local climate zone’ scheme using temperature observations and model simulations.  International Journal of Climatology 34: 1062–80.

Stewart ID.  2013.  Local climates of the city.  Architectural Design 83: 100–105.

Stewart ID, Oke TR.  2012.  Local Climate Zones for urban temperature studies. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society 93: 1879–1900. 

Stewart ID.  2011.  A systematic review and scientific critique of methodology in modern urban heat island literature.  International Journal of Climatology 31: 200–17. 

Stewart ID.  2007.  Landscape representation and the urban-rural dichotomy in empirical urban heat island literature, 1950–2006.  Acta Climatologica et Chorologica 40-41: 111–21. 

Stewart ID.  2000.  Influence of meteorological conditions on the intensity and form of the urban heat island effect in Regina.  The Canadian Geographer 44: 271–85.

Technical reports

Stewart ID, Voogt J, Roth M, et al.  2023.  General information on the CL-UHI.  IN:  Schlünzen HK, Grimmond S, Baklanov A (eds.), Guidance on Measuring, Modelling and Monitoring the Canopy Layer Urban Heat Island (CL-UHI).  World Meteorological Organization (WMO), Geneva, CH.

Roncancio DN, Stewart ID.  2021.  Mapas climáticos urbanos para la planificación ambiental en Manizales, Colombia [Urban climatic maps for environmental planning in Manizales, Colombia].  Boletín Ambiental, No. 182, Universidad Nacional de Colombia.

Kennedy C, Stewart ID, Westphal M.  2019.  Shifting currents:  Opportunities for low-carbon electric cities in the Global South.  World Resources Institute, Washington, USA.

Stewart ID, Kennedy C, Facchini A.  2016.  Key performance indicators for sustainable megacities.  Enel Foundation, Rome, Italy. 

Stewart ID, Kennedy C, Facchini A.  2014.  Metabolism of megacities:  A review and synthesis of the literature.  Enel Foundation Technical Report 15/2014, Rome, Italy.

News articles

Stewart ID, Roncancio DN, Franco FL.  2022.  Urban Climatology Course (UCC) returns to Manizales, Colombia.  Urban Climate News—Quarterly Newsletter of the IAUC, Issue 85, pp. 23–4.

Stewart ID., Mills G.  2021.  Special Report: “The Urban Heat Island–A Guidebook”.  Urban Climate News—Quarterly Newsletter of the IAUC, Issue 82, pp. 22–4.

Stewart ID.  2020.  Urban Climatology Course (UCC) launched in Colombia.  Urban Climate News—Quarterly Newsletter of the IAUC, Issue 75, pp. 17–8.

Stewart ID.  2019.  The relevance of history in contemporary urban heat island research. Urban Climate News—Quarterly Newsletter of the IAUC, Issue 74, pp. 14–20.

Stewart ID.  2016.  Medellin’s Comuna 13 is riding escalators to a better future. The Globe and Mail, April 23.

Stewart ID.  2009.  Classifying urban climate field sites by Local Climate Zones. Urban Climate News—Quarterly Newsletter of the IAUC, Issue 34, pp. 8–11.

Stewart ID.  2008.  Urban observations from Japan.  UBC Geographer, University of British Columbia, February.

Stewart ID.  2006.  Representations of ‘urban’ and ‘rural’ space in urban heat island literature.  IAUC Newsletter, Issue 19, October.

Encyclopedia entries

Krayenhoff ES, Stewart ID.  2011.  Heat Island Effect.  In Green Cities: An A-to-Z Guide, Cohen E (ed.).  SAGE Publications, London.

Stewart ID.  2005.  Urban Heat Islands.  In The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan: A Living Legacy, Gauthier D, Douaud P (eds.).  University of Regina Press.