Beyond nearly zero energy urban design: A holistic microclimatic energy and environmental quality evaluation workflow

Abstract

Despite the urgent global call for an energy transition and the promotion of health and well-being in cities, a holistic approach to evaluating the trade-offs between an urban energy balance and environmental quality considerations is lacking. This paper bridges this gap by introducing a Grasshopper digital workflow through which the impacts of a wide range of building and urban design parameters on both energy performance and environmental quality can be effectively evaluated. This workflow is tested here for both theoretical and site-specific urban test cases in the context of Tel Aviv. For these test cases, the performance metrics - energy load match, spatial daylight autonomy and universal thermal climate index - were calculated using EnergyPlus, Radiance and ENVI-met simulation engines for different block typologies and were then analyzed. The results showed that among the block typologies, the courtyard achieved the optimal combination across the tested environmental criteria, despite the daylight and energy generation penalty associated with self-shading in compact block typologies. This workflow highlights the performative tradeoffs between energy and environmental quality considerations and can thus help urban designers achieve not only a lower environmental impact but also regenerative and healthier design outcomes.