Intended users
Urban planners and designers, environmental engineers and consultants, landscape architects, municipal governments and policy makers.
Need you’re trying to provide a solution or support for
Mitigate the effect of the urban heat island (UHI). This is important because it would reduce energy costs for AC as well as heat-related dangers like illness and death.
The users of the tool need temperature impact predictions based on design interventions (green spaces, reflective materials, etc). Also needed is a cost-benefit analysis for different UHI mitigation strategies. Third, being able to visualize results is important, so heat maps for temperature changes would be useful.
Inputs
- Green space coverage: % of land dedicated to green spaces
- Reflective materials: reflectivity of building materials (albedo) and their surface areas
- Building density: building height and spacing & surface area : volume ratio
- Water features: number and size of water bodies (ponds, fountains, etc)
- Urban geometry: street orientation and width & building orientation
- Tree Canopy: density and distribution of surrounding trees
Underlying logic of the model you’ll implement
A generative design algorithm that provides users with outputs via:
- Energy balance calculations: the balance between absorbed and emitted heat for diff. surfaces; considering solar radiation and building emissions
- Thermal conductivity (between buildings, ground, and atmosphere)
- Evapotranspiration: cooling effects of green spaces and water features
- Shading effects from tree canopies and building orientation
- Reflectivity and absorptivity of diff. materials and surfaces
Outputs
- Temperature maps showing variation across urban area for diff. design scenarios
- Cost-benefit analysis of implementation
- Recommendation reports clarifying optimal scenarios