The Interactive Impact of Building Diversity on the Thermal Balance and Micro-Climate Change under the Influence of Rapid Urbanization

Mehdi Makvandi, Baofeng Li, Mohamed Elsadek, Zeinab Khodabakhshi and Mohsen Ahmadi
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Mehdi Makvandi: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Baofeng Li: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Mohamed Elsadek: Department of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China
Zeinab Khodabakhshi: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Islamic Azad University of Izeh, Izeh 6391675568, Iran
Mohsen Ahmadi: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 6, 1-20

Abstract: Numerous cities face the serious problems of rapid urbanization and climate change, especially in recent years. Among all cities, Wuhan is one of the most affected by these changes, accompanied by the transformation of water surfaces into urban lands and the decline of natural ventilation. This study investigated the impact of surface urban heat island enlargement (SUHI) and block morphology changes in heat balance. Accordingly, the interactive impact of building diversity with major building forms (low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise) on thermal balance and microclimate changes under the influence of urban land expansion at the residential block scale was studied. To investigate the heat balance changes by air temperature intensification and air movement reduction, a long-term and field observational analysis (1980–2018) coupled with computational fluid dynamic simulation (CFD) was used to evaluate the impact of building diversity on thermal balance. Outcomes show that urban heat island intensity (UHII) increased by 2 °C when water surfaces in urban areas decreased; consequently, there was a deterioration in the air movement to alleviate UHII. Thus, the air movement declined substantially with UHII and SUHI enlargement, which, through increased urban surfaces and roughness length, will become worse by 2020. Furthermore, the decline in air movement caused by the transformation of urban water bodies cannot contribute to the heat balance unless reinforced by the morphology of the urban blocks. In the design of inner-city blocks, morphological indicators have a significant impact on microclimate and heat balance, where increasing building density and plot ratio will increase UHII, and increasing water surfaces will result in an increase in urban ventilation. Lastly, a substantial correlation between air temperature and relative humidity was found, which, together with the block indicators, can help control the air temperature and adjust the urban microclimate.

Keywords: urbanization; micro-climate changes; urban block morphology; natural ventilation; UHII enlargement; heat balance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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