Effects of traditional block morphology on wind environment at the pedestrian level in cold regions of Xi’an, China

Abstract

Many neighbourhoods have traditional characteristics in China; it’s both the wealth of urban and the trouble. With the improvement in the public’s requirements for outdoor living standards, the preservation of the memory of the city block and the transformation of the block brought by the embedding of the new way of life need to be solved properly. Accordingly, this research collected the block patterns and average pedestrian horizontal wind speeds of 12 different formation years based on the plot ratio, building density, building height, enclosure, height fall, aspect ratio and Sky view factors of the traditional blocks in Xi’an. The correlation between various morphological parameters and mean pedestrian horizontal wind speed was discussed. Finally, two types of prediction formulas are obtained, namely the formula of the point concept parameter and the mean pedestrian horizontal wind speed and the formula of the average site conceptual parameter and the average pedestrian horizontal wind speed. This study aims to explore the parameter combinations of traditional block shape optimisation. It also aims to guide the construction activities that improve the outdoor event space quality of modern urban residents in the future. Research methods and results can provide reference for urban and block morphological transformation in similar climate zones.