Abstract
In recent years, demographic growth has caused cities to expand their urban areas, increasing the risk of overheating, creating insurmountable microclimatic conditions within the urban area, which is why studies have been carried out on the urban heat island effect (UHI) and its mitigation. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the cooling potential in the application of strategies based on biomimicry for the microclimate in a historical heritage city of Panama. For this, three case studies (base case, case 1, and case 2) of outdoor thermal comfort were evaluated, in which the Envi-met software was used to emulate and evaluate the thermal performance of these strategies during March (highest temperature month) and October (rainier month). The strategies used were extracted from the contrast of zebra skin, human skin, evaporative cooling, and ant skin. The results showed a reduction of 2.8 °C in the air temperature at 11:00, the radiant temperature decreased by 2.2 °C, and the PET index managed to reduce the thermal comfort indicator among its categories. The importance of thinking based on biomimicry in sustainable strategies is concluded; although significant changes were obtained, high risks of discomfort persist due to the layout and proximity of the building.
Highlights
In 2018, 55% of the world’s population lived in urban areas, and it is estimated that by 2050 it will increase to 68% [1]
Cities and urban areas will be much warmer than nearby rural areas; this phenomenon is known as the urban heat island (UHI) [2]
For zone B: there is a consumption of 1,471,818 kWh of electricity per year, where 62% belongs to the air conditioning system, achieving a Biomimetics 2021, 6, 48
Summary
In 2018, 55% of the world’s population lived in urban areas, and it is estimated that by 2050 it will increase to 68% [1]. Evaluations have been performed in Panama considering the bioclimatic of the site for building strategies to assure indoor thermal comfort [7,8], and even to reduce energy consumption due to air conditioning [9], reaching promising results For this reason, due to scarce resources and because conventional practices are no longer sufficient to solve the problem, it is necessary to change the design thinking and find the most efficient way to solve the problems as nature does, using new strategies based on biomimetics.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
