A Framework for Assessment of the Influence of China’s Urban Underground Space Developments on the Urban Microclimate

Abstract

Abstract:The paper aims to establish the framework for linking underground space projects and the urban microclimate, in order to construct an interdisciplinary research framework. Based on the combination of underground space, urban form and the urban microclimate, the impacts of underground space on urban microclimate factors above ground and underground are summarized and the internal mechanism is investigated. The above ground factor refers to the impact of a new urban form induced by the underground space planning on the urban microclimate. The underground factor refers to the impact of the control of the internal environment of underground space on the ground environment. This study mainly addresses two aspects. Firstly, to identify the influencing factors of urban underground space microclimate and define the research entry point and classify the indicator of the external space environment; secondly, to address the key issues of the research areas and their influence on the urban underground space project and the urban microclimate in the current phase and establish the direction of future research. The microclimate case of the Nanjing underground planning is provided to preliminarily analyze how underground space development improves the urban microclimate. By the comparative analysis of microclimate parameters, air quality parameters, and outdoor thermal environment parameters OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2014, 6 8537 (Mean Radiant Temperature, MRT), the influences and benefits of underground space projects on the urban microclimate is quantitatively explored.

Remote Sensing Techniques for Urban Heating Analysis: A Case Study of Sustainable Construction at District Level

“…Furthermore, a three-level underground car park was constructed and a significant part of the roadway transferred underground, thereby avoiding the temperature increase linked to the heat generated by the circulating vehicles on the corresponding area. This benefit is confirmed in a simulated study [42] reporting how the underground space development improves the urban microclimate. Finally, the construction of relatively high buildings with respect to the previous flat car park lot produced a shading effect and a probable improvement of the local air circulation.…”

Influence of the Ground Greening Configuration on the Outdoor Thermal Environment in Residential Areas under Different Underground Space Overburden Thicknesses

“…The air temperature at the pedestrian level can be reduced by approximately 1 • C by having a tree area that accounts for more than 1/3 of the land area [18]. Although the influence of residential greening on outdoor thermal environments has been studied extensively, few studies have qualitatively discussed the influence of underground space development on residential greening and outdoor thermal environments [19][20][21][22] and even fewer have discussed this topic quantitatively [23,24].…”

“…By transferring some ground-level building spaces with lower environmental requirements to underground spaces, more ground area can be reserved for greening and waterscapes, which can further improve the outdoor thermal environment. In our previous studies, we quantitatively analyzed the changes in outdoor thermal environments before and after the development of underground space in a residential area in Nanjing, China, using the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation software ENVI-met [23,24]. This study quantified the effects of increasing the ground greening area on outdoor thermal environments by transferring the parking lot to an underground space in the residential area.…”

“…We quantitatively studied the outdoor thermal environments in the two residential areas with the same greening coverage rate under different OTUS and ground green configurations using the CFD simulation software ENVI-met. Compared to our previous studies [23,24], this study fully considered the effects of OTUS on the ground greening configuration and the further effects of the ground greening configuration on the outdoor thermal environment. In addition, on the basis of the simulation results, this study revealed the influence mechanism of the OTUS on the outdoor thermal environment and provided several suggestions for underground space development in residential areas.…”

Assessing the Atmospheric Oxygen Balance in a Region of Rapid Urbanization: A Case Study in the Pearl River Delta, China

“…The fast urbanization with significant land cover change has influenced the urban microclimate, which may threaten the sustainability of atmospheric balance at regional scale [1,2]. Some of the regional atmospheric process such as CO2 emission has become a critical issue in sustainable development [3].…”