Urban Heat Island Mitigation Strategies: Experimental and Numerical Analysis of a University Campus in Rome (Italy)

Gabriele Battista, Luca Evangelisti, Claudia Guattari, Emanuele De Lieto Vollaro, Roberto De Lieto Vollaro and Francesco Asdrubali
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Gabriele Battista: Department of Engineering, Roma TRE University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, Italy
Luca Evangelisti: Department of Engineering, Roma TRE University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, Italy
Claudia Guattari: Department of Engineering, Roma TRE University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, Italy
Emanuele De Lieto Vollaro: Department of Architecture, Roma TRE University, Via della Madonna dei Monti 40, 00184 Rome, Italy
Roberto De Lieto Vollaro: Department of Engineering, Roma TRE University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, Italy
Francesco Asdrubali: Department of Engineering, Roma TRE University, Via Vito Volterra 62, 00146 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2020, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-18

Abstract: The urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon is strictly related to climate changes and urban development. During summer, in urban areas, the lack of green zones and water sources causes local overheating, with discomfort and negative effects on buildings’ energy performance. Starting from this, an experimental and numerical investigating of the climatic conditions in a university area in Rome was achieved, also assessing the occurrence of the UHI phenomenon. The analyzed area was recently renewed, with solutions in contrast to each other: on one side, an old building was re-designed aiming at high performance; on the other hand, the neighboring areas were also refurbished leading to large paved surfaces, characterized by high temperatures during summer. A calibrated numerical model was generated through ENVI-met software and eight different scenarios were compared, to mitigate the overheating of this area and to analyze the influences of the proposed solutions in terms of air temperature reduction. The analysis of this case study provides information on potential mitigation solutions in the urban environment, showing that goals and priorities in the design phase should concern not only buildings but also external areas, also considering university areas.

Keywords: university areas; overheating; urban heat island; mitigation strategies; ENVI-met; model calibration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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