Climate and urban form

Abstract

Creation of living environments has always been led by strong ideas guided by social or environmental objectives. Thus, urban form has in the past, for example, been influenced by safety, order, hygiene and health. During the second half of the twentieth century regeneration of cities has often been guided by notions of local character or genius loci, as a reaction to the destruction and brutal transformation following the Second World War. Climate change and potential higher temperatures have increased concerns about urban heat island effect, which is now probably the single most important factor to consider in the design of cities. This concern, however, should not overtake the need to also create places that are attractive to live in. Urban morphology has proved a successful approach to analyse the characteristics of urban environments and in certain cases to inform urban design guidance; this article will explore the possibility and potential of using morphological techniques to identify the key factors to take into consideration that influence microclimate in cities and inform urban design to provide a maximum cooling effect. This would help to create spaces that are more comfortable for residents. This tentative exploration was initiated as part of the author's work on a case study related to an ongoing research project entitled Urban Rivers and Sustainable Living Agenda (URSULA, www.ursula.ac.uk). Hypothetical parameters related to urban morphology are put forward to analyse the climate performance of different urban forms of a riverside location in Sheffield and the micro-climate data collected there. This will contribute to the ongoing research to identify which urban morphology characteristics have the most significant impact on thermal comfort and how they could be manipulated to mitigate the urban heat island effect.

Characterizing the Spatiotemporal Evolution of Building-Stock Age in Poultney, Vermont: A GIS-Based Approach to Improve Thermal Efficiency in Historical Buildings

“…There is growing interest in improving energy efficiency, reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with energy use in new buildings, and improving thermal efficiency (also referred to as weatherization in the US) in historical building stock throughout the industrialized world (Diamond, 2001;Filchakova et al, 2009;Georgopoulou et al, 2006;Granade et al, 2009;Kesik, 2008;Malmqvist and Glaumann, 2009;Nair et al, 2010;Sorrell et al, 2005;Wilkinson and Reed, 2006). Policy makers, planning agencies, and municipalities are beginning to recognize the value within the built environment and climate change of improving efficiencies, prompting them to implement strategies that reduce the consumption of fossil fuels, which results in lower emissions of anthropogenic GHGs (Allen et al, 2011;Bradshaw, 2010;Makrodimitri, 2010;Mavrogianni et al, 2012;Pattacini, 2012;Smith and Levermore, 2008). This growing interest in urban climate research is particularly focused on improving thermal efficiencies of buildings because of the high energy consumption related to heating and cooling demands (Aebischer et al, 2007;Economidou, 2011;Frank, 2010;Jenkins et al, 2008;Mavrogianni et al, 2012;Olonschek et al, 2011;Williams et al, 2012).…”

Defining public open spaces: an investigation framework to inform planning and design decision-making processes

“…Open spaces play an important role in defining landscape urban character and are instrumental in addressing key contemporary urban design issues, such as flooding and the urban heat island effect (Gill et al, 2007;Lenzholzer, 2015). Drawing on previous research (Pattacini, 2001(Pattacini, , 2002(Pattacini, , 2012Samuels & Pattacini, 2014) this paper demonstrates how the typomorphological approach of urban analysis, which is usually applied to buildings, can be successfully applied to develop a framework of inquiry identifying the fundamental structure and principles of urban open space types and forms to contribute to knowledge and inform decision-making processes.…”

“…The points below explain the impact of location, size and quantities of open spaces on human comfort and quality of urban/natural systems. This is developed further in Table 4 (Barton et al, 1995;Lenzholzer, 2015;Pattacini, 2012):…”

Developing a Health-Spatial Indicator System for a Healthy City in Small and Midsized Cities

“…The urban transportation infrastructure, including the road networks and connections, and particularly the public transport service, profoundly influence residents’ connectivity and convenience [ 54 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 ]. Residential space, as one vital type of land use, requires the careful consideration of residential density, such as median floors of accommodation and the portion of affordable housing, along with the layout and diversity of community facilities, including ordinary retail facilities and grocery stores [ 26 , 48 , 67 , 68 , 69 ]. Facilities that encourage physical activity, such as sports fields (e.g., swings, basketball courts, handball, and baseball fields), cycling paths, and playgrounds have been revealed to correlate with healthy conditions [ 69 , 70 , 71 ].…”