Abstract
Unresponsive design guidelines for open spaces and the continuous allocation of land for the construction of buildings has led to the ‘concretisation’ of urbanscapes. This has resulted in the urban heat island effect marking the increase in air temperature making urban spaces almost unbearable for urban residents to dwell in. However, new effort is being made to reduce the effect of heat gain at the pedestrian level by planting vegetation in open spaces particularly urban nodes to create a comfortable outdoor environment. Appropriate vegetation selection in landscape design which is capable of reducing outdoor air temperature, is needed in designing urban nodes in hot-humid climates. The study is aimed to investigate the effectiveness of different vegetation types and their planting arrangement in adequately shading outdoor spaces for pedestrian activities. Two node intersections in Kuala Lumpur’s urban space were selected based on vegetation type and planting arrangement. Daylight intensity was measured using the lux meters and the shadow casted underneath the vegetation. Human activity within the area was also observed to determine which vegetation type and planting arrangement is most suitable for pedestrian activity. Results revealed that the vegetation types and its planting arrangements significantly influences the amount of daylight penetrating the tree foliage and shadow casted on the ground which encourages human interaction at the node intersections.
Highlights
Hot-humid regions are characterised as nonarid climates taking up much of the equatorial belt where day length and temperature remain relatively constant throughout the year
This paper set out to illustrate the effectiveness in shade creation of four vegetation types found on two different node intersections in providing shade and improving thermal comfort in hot-humid regions
This study has shown that some vegetations like Peltophorum pterocarpum in Site A and Hopea odorata in Site B have the ability to reduce light intensity and improve outdoor thermal comfort
Summary
Hot-humid regions are characterised as nonarid climates taking up much of the equatorial belt where day length and temperature remain relatively constant throughout the year. As comfort at street level in the urban environment deteriorates, urban dwellers are losing their ability to create meaningful relationships with their urban environment and spending longer time indoors in controlled air temperature (Ahmed, 2003). Asian cities such as Kuala Lumpur (KL) are experiencing unprecedented urbanization that has progressively modified urban spaces, building structures and human activities (Ahmed, 2003) causing rapid warming in cities seen in recent times (Hu and Brunsell, 2015; Stocker et at., 2013; Mayer et al, 2008). With the growing urban population, a threat to human health and well-being is posed due to this increased temperature and air pollution in urban environments (Myers and Patz, 2009 and Patz et al, 2005). Lindberg (2011) suggested the use of appropriate vegetation foliage and a suitable planting arrangement in city spaces as a means to provide shade which significantly reduces the outdoor temperature and increases
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