Modeling Thermal Comfort and Optimizing Local Renewal Strategies—A Case Study of Dazhimen Neighborhood in Wuhan City

Chong Peng, Tingzhen Ming, Jianquan Cheng, Yongjia Wu and Zhong-Ren Peng
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Chong Peng: School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Tingzhen Ming: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Jianquan Cheng: School of Science and the Environment, Manchester Metropolitan University, Chester Street, Manchester M1 5GD, UK
Yongjia Wu: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, China
Zhong-Ren Peng: Center for ITS & UAV Applications Research, School of Naval Architecture, Ocean & Civil Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China

Sustainability, 2015, vol. 7, issue 3, 1-20

Abstract: Modeling thermal comfort provides quantitative evidence and parameters for effective and efficient urban planning, design, and building construction particularly in a dense and narrow inner city, which has become one of many concerns for sustainable urban development. This paper aims to develop geometric and mathematical models of wind and thermal comfort and use them to examine the impacts of six small-scale renewal strategies on the wind and thermal environment at pedestrian level in Dazhimen neighborhood, Wuhan, which is a typical case study of urban renewal project in a mega-city. The key parameters such as the solar radiation, natural convection, relative humidity, ambient crosswind have been incorporated into the mathematical models by using user-defined-function (UDF) method. Detailed temperature and velocity distributions under different strategies have been compared for the optimization of local renewal strategies. It is concluded that five rules generated from the simulation results can provide guidance for building demolition and reconstruction in a neighborhood and there is no need of large-scale demolition. Particularly, combining the local demolition and city virescence can both improve the air ventilation and decrease the temperature level in the study area.

Keywords: sustainable urban renewal; wind and thermal comfort; geometric and mathematical models; CFD; inner city; Wuhan (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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