Association between Three-Dimensional Built Environment and Urban Air Temperature: Seasonal and Temporal Differences

Cheolyeong Park, Jaehyun Ha and Sugie Lee
Additional contact information
Cheolyeong Park: Department of Urban Planning and Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Jaehyun Ha: Department of Urban Planning and Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea
Sugie Lee: Department of Urban Planning and Engineering, Hanyang University, Seoul 04763, Korea

Sustainability, 2017, vol. 9, issue 8, 1-16

Abstract: Climate change and the urban heat island phenomenon are increasingly important issues in urban thermal environments. However, there is a lack of research on the relationship between three-dimensional built environments and air temperature. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to provide policy suggestions that could be used to improve urban thermal environments by analyzing the effect of the three-dimensional built environment of an urban space on the urban air temperature according to changes in time (i.e., season, time of day). Using data from 236 automatic weather stations (AWSs) in Seoul, Korea, this study focused on three-dimensional built environmental variables and land use variables that affect air temperature in terms of season and time. The analysis results indicate that the sky view factor and porosity were lower in urban areas, with higher sky view factor and porosity values associated with lower air temperature. This study also indicates that surface roughness is higher in urban areas, with higher surface roughness associated with higher air temperature. These results suggest that urban design practices should consider the three-dimensional built environment when planning urban development and urban regeneration projects in order to improve the urban thermal environment.

Keywords: air temperature; three-dimensional built environment; sky view factor; surface roughness; porosity (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 (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1338/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/8/1338/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:8:p:1338-:d:106405

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().