Investigation of Parking Lot Pavements to Counteract Urban Heat Islands

Laura Moretti, Giuseppe Cantisani, Marco Carpiceci, Antonio D’Andrea, Giulia Del Serrone, Paola Di Mascio, Paolo Peluso and Giuseppe Loprencipe
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Laura Moretti: Department of Civil, Constructional and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Giuseppe Cantisani: Department of Civil, Constructional and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Marco Carpiceci: Department of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazza Borghese 9, 00186 Rome, Italy
Antonio D’Andrea: Department of Civil, Constructional and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Giulia Del Serrone: Department of Civil, Constructional and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Paola Di Mascio: Department of Civil, Constructional and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Paolo Peluso: Department of Civil, Constructional and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy
Giuseppe Loprencipe: Department of Civil, Constructional and Environmental Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18, 00184 Rome, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 12, 1-21

Abstract: Urban heat islands (UHI) are one of the unequivocal effects of the ongoing process of climate change: anthropized areas suffer extreme heat events that affect the human perception of comfort. This study investigated the effects of road pavements as a passive countermeasure by comparing the air temperature (AT) and the predicted mean vote (PMV) for different surface materials used to pave a historical square in Rome, Italy. The software ENVI-met has been used to compare, for the whole year 2021, the performances of the existing asphalt pavement with five alternative solutions composed of light concrete, bricks, stone, wood, and grass. This paper proposed a new methodology to summarize the multi-dimensional results over both temporal and spatial domains. The results of the simulations in the evening of the hottest month showed the existing asphalt pavement gives the worst performance, while the light concrete blocks and the grass pavement ensure the coolest solutions in terms of AT (the average AT is 32 °C for the asphalt pavement and 30 °C for the modular one) and PMV (the maximum PMV value is 4.6 for the asphalt pavement and 4.4 for the modular and grass ones).

Keywords: urban heat island; cool pavements; ENVI-met; concrete pavers; air temperature; asphalt; predicted mean vote (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:12:p:7273-:d:838383

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