Assessing the Effects of Urban Morphology Parameters on Microclimate in Singapore to Control the Urban Heat Island Effect

Nyuk Wong,Marcel Ignatius,Peng Cui,Hong Jin

doi:10.3390/su10010206

Nyuk Wong, Marcel Ignatius + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10010206

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Abstract

It is important to alleviate the “heat island effect” in urban areas, especially tropical cities. Microclimate is normally affected by the urban morphology parameters. The objective of this work is to investigate the correlation between air temperature variations and urban morphology parameters in tropical cities. Field measurement was carried out to record the air temperature at 27 points within an 8 km2 urban area continuously in Singapore for one year. Geographical information system was applied to extract the urban morphology parameters. Generally, the maximum and minimum air temperature spatial differences in the study area ranged from 3.2 to 6.5 °C, indicating the significant effects of urban morphology on the air temperatures. Based on the fitting results of created multilinear regression models, parametric study has been performed to investigate the specific effects of urban morphology parameters on air temperatures. This work has proposed a much more precise regression model to predict the air temperature with various urban morphology parameters. In addition, meaningful value of reference has been offered for urban planners and landscape designers to effectively control the air temperature in tropical cities such as Singapore.

Highlights

The urban heat island (UHI) effect is one of the most severe problem in tropical cities
10% increase of sky view factor (SVF) would lead to an increase of air temperature by 0.21 ◦C when the radius is 50 m
When calculation radius becomes wider, building plot ratio (BPR) becomes another important impact factor; the air temperature decreased by 0.13 ◦C when BPR increased to 10%

Summary

Introduction

The urban heat island (UHI) effect is one of the most severe problem in tropical cities. The local climate of an urban area may be substantially affected by landscape factors as well as geometrical characteristics, anthropogenic activities, and heat sources present in the area. There is a mounting research interest in microclimate issues, as they represent important factors in achieving sustainability inside cities, which serve increasingly large populations across the globe. The urban microclimate both influences and is influenced by human behavior and decision-making, due to the complex interactions between air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and micro-scale landscape parameters [4,5,6]. Empirical knowledge of local air temperature variability and the relationship between the microclimate and artificial impact factors is critical in adapting the urban climate to changes in its thermal environment

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