Effect of Sampietrini Pavers on Urban Heat Islands.

Laura Moretti,Antonio D’Andrea,Giuseppe Cantisani,Paola Di Mascio,Giulia Del Serrone,Marco Carpiceci,Giuseppe Loprencipe

doi:10.3390/ijerph182413108

Laura Moretti, Antonio D’Andrea + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182413108

Copy DOI

Abstract

Cool pavements are reflective and/or permeable pavements that improve microclimate of urban areas where heat islands cause discomfort to citizens. Stone pavements lower surface temperatures and reduce the amount of heat absorbed. This study assessed, using ENVI-met 4.3 LITE software, how air temperature and predicted mean vote depend on physical properties of the road pavement. A comparative microclimatic analysis was implemented on a rectangular square in Rome (Italy) in the summer, paved in three different ways: asphalt, traditional sampietrini, and permeable sampietrini. The model considered local weather parameters, surrounding fabric, and vegetation to give reliable results in terms of numerical and graphical output using the application tool Leonardo. The tested pavement types affected air temperature during the day, but did not influence this variable in the early morning. Permeable sampietrini pavement was more effective than traditional sampietrini pavement in reducing air temperature compared to the current asphalt surface. The road pavement did not, however, affect human comfort in terms of predicted mean vote. The obtained results are useful for further investigation of parameters that could modify the microclimatic conditions of urban areas.

Highlights

In the last few years, the effects of current global warming, climatic variability, and extremes of weather phenomena, have been increasing [1,2,3]
At 6:00 a.m., the air temperature (AT) (Figure 16a,c,e, Tables 4 and 5) showed that cool pavements did not significantly alter the current scenario; temperature differences were not appreciable when asphalt pavement in S1 was substituted by sampietrini pavers with traditional and permeable patterns in S2 and S3, respectively
The permeable sampietrini pavement (i.e., S3) ensured an average AT reduction equal to 0.45 ◦ C

Summary

Introduction

In the last few years, the effects of current global warming (e.g., rise of mean surface temperature, heating of the oceans and mass loss from glaciers and ice caps), climatic variability, and extremes of weather phenomena, have been increasing [1,2,3]. A heat island is caused by anthropogenic forcing from land cover use: it substitutes natural surfaces with impermeable ones and builds large obstacles that absorb heat during the day and release it during the night [9]. Such conditions lead to urban heat islands (UHI) where temperatures are 2 to 15 ◦ C warmer than those in rural and surrounding areas [10,11,12] due to the change in albedo. Asphalt road pavements play a pivotal role in the formation of UHIs [9,16] with up to 40%

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion