In [1] a novel global feature importance method for regression has been introduced for explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) [2], based on recent results which generalize the traditional dyadic description of networks of variables to the higher-order setting [3, 4]. Notably, an increasing attention is being devoted to the emergent properties of complex systems, with a prominent role in this literature played by partial information decomposition (PID) [5] and its subsequent developments [6], exploiting information-theoretic tools to reveal high-order dependencies among groups of three or more random variables and describe their synergistic or redundant nature [7-11]. Within this framework, redundancy refers to information retrievable from multiple sources, while synergy refers to statistical relationships existing within the whole system that cannot be observed in its individual parts. The approach described in [1], named Hi-Fi (high-order interactions for feature importance), is rooted on a well known metric of feature importance named Leave-One-Out Covariates (LOCO) [12], i.e. the reduction of the prediction error when the feature under consideration is added to the set of all the features used for regression, and proposes an adaptive version of LOCO which provides three scores for each feature: the unique pure standalone (two-body) influence of the feature on the target, and the contributions stemming from synergistic and redundant interactions with other features. It is worth mentioning that the decomposition of feature importance in [1] clearly depends also on the choice of the hypothesis space for regression, hence it should be assumed that a proper model for data has been selected.

This paper presents a novel framework for prioritizing urban green space development in Tehran using diverse socio-economic, environmental, and sensitivity indices. The indices were derived from various sources including Google Earth Engine, air pollution measurements, municipal reports and the Weather Research & Forecasting (WRF) model. The WRF model was used to estimate the air temperature at a 1 km resolution due to insufficient meteorological stations, yielding RMSE and MAE values of 0.96°C and 0.92°C, respectively. After data preparation, several machine learning models were used for binary vegetation cover classification including XGBoost, LightGBM, Random Forest (RF) and Extra Trees. RF achieved the highest performance, exceeding 94% in Overall Accuracy, Recall, and F1-score. Then, the probability of areas lacking vegetation cover was assessed using socio-economic, environmental and sensitivity indices. This resulted in the RF generating an urban green space development prioritization map. Feature Importance Analysis revealed that the most significant indices were nightly land surface temperature (LST) and sensitive population. Finally, the framework performance was validated through microclimate simulation to assess the critical areas after and before the green space development by green roofs. The simulation demonstrated reducing air temperature by up to 0.67°C after utilizing the green roof technology in critical areas. As a result, this framework provides a valuable tool for urban planners to develop green spaces.