Regionalist Principles to Reduce the Urban Heat Island Effect

Leyre Echevarría Icaza and Franklin Van der Hoeven
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Leyre Echevarría Icaza: Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands
Franklin Van der Hoeven: Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, Julianalaan 134, 2628 BL Delft, The Netherlands

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 5, 1-17

Abstract: Scientists, climatologists, and urban planners have started to recognize the importance of nature at two very different scales: the global (metabolic) and the local (liveability) scales. The regional scale is the one at which these macro and micro approaches overlap. Future predictions foresee an increase of more than 2450 million urban inhabitants by 2050, thus new balanced urban visions need to be developed in order to guarantee the sustainability of urban areas. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is a climate phenomenon resulting from unbalanced urban design arrangements. This paper analyses several design principles proposed by the 1920s regionalists from the UHI perspective. The preservation of the regional geographical landmarks, the implementation of urban containment policies (limiting city sizes), the increase of greenery and the development of green multifunctional blocks would help reduce the UHI in future urban developments.

Keywords: regionalism; urban heat island; urbanization; green infrastructure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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