Evaluating the impact of the building density and height on the block surface temperature

Chen, Yunhao; Wu, Jiatong; Yu, Ke

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2019.106493

Cited by 42 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…A building density of 30% was used as the threshold level for a high-density street block. Specifically, a street block with a building density of at least 30% can be referred to as a high-density street block [16,34]. Hence, the relationship between the urban form and thermal environment was addressed, focusing on the street blocks of XCZ with building densities of at least 30%.…”

Section: Study Casementioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Urban Form on Thermal Environment Near the Surface Region at Pedestrian Height: A Case Study Based on High-Density Built-Up Areas of Nanjing City in China

et al. 2020

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The continuous worsening of urban thermal environments poses a severe threat to human health and is among the main problems associated with urban climate change and sustainable development. This issue is particularly severe in high-density built-up areas. Existing studies on the thermal environments (temperature data extracted from satellite remote sensing images) are mainly focused on urban canopy areas (airspace below the average height of trees or buildings) rather than the near surface region (at pedestrian height). However, the main outdoor activity space of urban residents is the area near surface region. Hence, this study aims to investigate the influence of urban form (i.e., building density, height, and openness) on thermal environment near the surface region. The high-density built-up areas of a typical megacity (i.e., Nanjing) in China were selected, and the thermal environments of 26 typical blocks were simulated using ENVI-met software. Temperature field measurements were carried out for simulation validation. On this basis, a classified and comparative study was conducted by selecting the key spatial form elements that affect thermal environments. The results showed that in actual high-density built-up areas, single urban form parameter does not determine the thermal environments near the urban surface but mainly affected by the use (function) of space. For this study, the overall thermal environment of a street block is optimal when the building density is between 40% and 50% and the average building height is between 8 and 17 stories. Nonetheless, the urban form can be improved to optimize the overall effects on building functions and thermal environments. Furthermore, function-specific urban form optimization strategies were proposed to optimize thermal environments according to specific functional needs.

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Section: Study Casementioning

confidence: 99%

Impacts of Urban Form on Thermal Environment Near the Surface Region at Pedestrian Height: A Case Study Based on High-Density Built-Up Areas of Nanjing City in China

et al. 2020

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“…This contradicts what we expect of tall buildings to create thermal energy buildup and poor air circulation, which then increase the UHI effect [10], [25], [26]. A possible explanation for this negative relationship could be that taller HDB blocks provide more shade and shelter from the sun at different angles throughout the day, thereby reducing the amount of heat exposure of the surrounding surfaces in the area [42]. In addition, crosssectional information is not accounted for in our dataset; welldesigned HDB blocks with good airflow would be able to counter the expected effects of poor air circulation and thermal energy build-up [43].…”

Section: ) Model Selectionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Urban Heat Islands: Beating the Heat with Multi-Modal Spatial Analysis

Yong

Lim

2020

Preprint

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In today's highly urbanized environment, the Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon is increasingly prevalent where surface temperatures in urbanized areas are found to be much higher than surrounding rural areas. Excessive levels of heat stress leads to problems at various levels, ranging from the individual to the world. At the individual level, UHI could lead to the human body being unable to cope and break-down in terms of core functions. At the world level, UHI potentially contributes to global warming and adversely affects the environment. Using a multi-modal dataset comprising remote sensory imagery, geospatial data and population data, we proposed a framework for investigating how UHI is affected by a city's urban form characteristics through the use of statistical modelling. Using Singapore as a case study, we demonstrate the usefulness of this framework and discuss our main findings in understanding the effects of UHI and urban form characteristics.

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“…ENVI-met has been used worldwide for environmental analysis and urban planning from the tropics to polar regions, and the software’s potential has been validated and its calculations verified in over 3000 scientific publications and independent studies [ 43 ]. Moreover, it has been validated in various climatic conditions based on the locations, also including Northwest in china [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ]. ENVI-met is also an integrated three-dimensional non-hydrostatic model for simulating air–plant interaction on the ground, with horizontal resolution of 0.5 to 10 m, typical time of 24 to 48 h, and time step of 1 to 5 s. ENVI-met version 4.4.5 was selected for this paper.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Supporting Design to Develop Rural Revitalization through Investigating Village Microclimate Environments: A Case Study of Typical Villages in Northwest China

Xin

Zhao

Wang

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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China has the largest number of villages in the world, and research on rural microclimate will contribute to global climate knowledge. A three-by-three grid method was developed to explore village microclimates through field measurement and ENVI-met simulation. A regression model was used to explore the mechanistic relationship between microclimate and spatial morphology, and predicted mean vote (PMV) was selected to evaluate outdoor thermal comfort. The results showed that ENVI-met was able to evaluate village microclimate, as Pearson’s correlation coefficient was greater than 0.8 and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was from 2.16% to 3.79%. Moreover, the air temperature of west–east road was slightly higher than that of south–north, especially in the morning. The height-to-width ratio (H/W) was the most significant factor to affect air temperature compared to percentage of building coverage (PBC) and wind speed. In addition, H/W and air temperature had a relatively strong negative correlation when H/W was between 0.52 and 0.93. PMV indicated that the downwind edge area of prevailing wind in villages was relatively comfortable. This study provides data support and a reference for optimizing village land use, mediating the living environment, and promoting rural revitalization.

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Evaluating the impact of the building density and height on the block surface temperature

Cited by 42 publications

References 49 publications

Impacts of Urban Form on Thermal Environment Near the Surface Region at Pedestrian Height: A Case Study Based on High-Density Built-Up Areas of Nanjing City in China

Impacts of Urban Form on Thermal Environment Near the Surface Region at Pedestrian Height: A Case Study Based on High-Density Built-Up Areas of Nanjing City in China

Urban Heat Islands: Beating the Heat with Multi-Modal Spatial Analysis

Supporting Design to Develop Rural Revitalization through Investigating Village Microclimate Environments: A Case Study of Typical Villages in Northwest China

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