Abstract
This paper deals with the interactions between biophysical and microclimatic factors on the one hand with, on the other, the urban morphology of intermediate urban open spaces, the relationship between environmental and bioclimatic thermal comfort, and the implementation of innovative materials and the use of greenery, aimed at the users’ well-being. In particular, the thermal comfort of the open spaces of the consolidated fabrics of the city of Rome is studied, by carrying out simulations of cooling strategies relating to two scenarios applied to Piazza Bainsizza. The first scenario involves the use of cool materials for roofs, cladding surfaces, and pavement, while the second scenario, in addition to the cool materials employed in the first scenario, also includes the use of greenery and permeable green surfaces. The research was performed using summer and winter microclimatic simulations of the CFD (ENVI-met v. 3.1) type, in order to determine the different influences of the materials with cold colors, trees, and vegetated surfaces on the thermal comfort of the urban morphology itself. Meanwhile, the comfort assessment was determined through the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) calculated with the RayMan program. The first scenario, with the use of cool materials, improves summer conditions and reduces the urban heat island effect but does not eliminate thermal discomfort due to the lack of shaded surfaces and vegetation. The second scenario, where material renovations is matched with vegetation improvements, has a slightly bad effect on winter conditions but drastically ameliorates the summer situation, both for direct users and, thanks to the strong reduction of the urban heat island effect, to urban inhabitants as a whole.
Highlights
The 2015 Paris COP 21 and those that followed, forcefully underscored that the struggle against climate change is one of the environmental issues most debated on the global level in recent years and that an innovative vision for cities has never been so important as in our century
1970s, there have been many studies that have investigated the optical characteristics of materials, leading to the application of highly reflective materials capable of maintaining low surface temperatures, and other research that has instead investigated the thermal characteristics of materials leading to the applications in construction of phase change (PCM) and thermochromic materials
In a recent study conducted by Berardi [55], the results show how the increase in the leaf area index (LAI) leads, during the daytime, to a cooling of the air temperature of to up to 0.4 ◦ C more at the pedestrian level
Summary
The 2015 Paris COP 21 and those that followed (until the last one in Madrid), forcefully underscored that the struggle against climate change is one of the environmental issues most debated on the global level in recent years and that an innovative vision for cities has never been so important as in our century. In line with the growing importance of mitigation and adaptation measures, and in light of the concept of energy retrofitting, especially of consolidated and historic fabrics, the identification, study, and design of high-performance, innovative systems is one of the main fields of investigation and a significant contribution that technology can provide to combat the negative effects of the UHI and the risks due to climate change in highly manmade settings In this sense, technological research never ceases to suggest alternative, innovative, and creative paths and to offer new components and materials for designing; it is the architect’s task to grasp their possibilities in power, in order to trigger that process of acting, operating, and working, in which to express one’s will to change course towards a resilient planning of public space [12,13]
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