Urban Microclimate Designing the Spaces Between Buildings

About this book

The quality of life of millions of people living in cities could be improved if the form of the city were to evolve in a manner appropriate to its climatic context. Climatically responsive urban design is vital to any notion of sustainability - it enables individual buildings to make use of renewable energy sources for passive heating and cooling, it enhances pedestrian comfort and activity in outdoor spaces and it may even encourage city dwellers to moderate their dependence on private vehicles.

This book bridges the gap between climatology research and applied urban design. It provides architects and urban design professionals with an understanding of how the structure of the built environment at all scales affects microclimatic conditions in the space between buildings, and analyzes the interaction between microclimate and each of the elements of the urban landscape.

Contents

Foreword * Introduction * Part I: Urban Climatology and the Microclimate of Open Spaces * Scales of Climatic Study - The Urban Canopy Layer and the Urban Canyon * The Surface Energy Balance * The Urban 'Heat Island' * Urban Airflow * Aeolian Particles * Urban CO2 Bubble * Part II: Climatic Quality and Human Preferences in Outdoor Spaces * The Energy Balance of a Human Being * Thermal Preferences * Outdoor Effects * Part III: Climatic Design of Open Spaces - Tools and Techniques * Microclimate Design Strategies in Urban Space * Urban Form * Free Space * Linear Spaces * Semi-Enclosed Space * Part IV: Case Studies *

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Biography

Evyatar Erell and David Pearlmutter are Associate Professors at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Terence Williamson is Associate Professor at the School of Architecture, Landscape Architecture & Urban Design, The University of Adelaide, Australia.