Abstract
Urban climatology is a complex field owed to the intersecting parameters. In city planning, neighborhood fabric and vegetation plays a great role in modifying arid microclimates. This work presents an approach to enable urban designers to find the optimum land use parameters to achieve pedestrian thermal comfort. In this study, a model was developed based on ENVI-met simulations of two urban and suburban sites in Cairo, Egypt. Initial design parameters were; compactness degree, grass coverage, leaf area density, trees ground coverage, and asphalt and buildings areas. After regression analysis, the step-wise algorithm succeeded in creating the best fit of 94% R2 and 92% adjusted R2. The suggested Urban Design Comfort Model (UDCM) was examined using MATLAB to find the optimum design parameters. Optimum values were applied to generate primitive urban configurations using Grasshopper. The primitives were simulated again in ENVI-met to validate UDCM. The resulted value of Physiological Equivalent Temperature, PET at peak time was reduced from the initial result of ENVI-met (42.3 °C) in both sites to reach (38.7 °C) then (36.8 °C) after refinement with extra foliage. This approach, as a tool for urban designers, not only facilitates and speeds up urban form design process on a passive basis, but also provides deep insights on the development of UDCM considering all different city transects rather than two.
Highlights
IntroductionIn hot arid regions where both fabric and network compose the patterns of urban developments that receive a huge amount of solar radiation, there is still a lack in the application of climate knowledge when it comes to practice [9,10,11]
Thermal comfort in this work is calculated by ENVI-met in terms of the Temperature (PET) which accounts for the meteorology and biometeorology affecting a pedestrian in Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) which accounts for the meteorology and significant terms [65]
Comfort Model (UDCM) for the cases’ output PET has taken place to account for all meteorology that affect pedestrian comfort such as the relative humidity and wind speed [81]
Summary
In hot arid regions where both fabric and network compose the patterns of urban developments that receive a huge amount of solar radiation, there is still a lack in the application of climate knowledge when it comes to practice [9,10,11]. This might occur due to an overwhelming population density in a country like Egypt where the housing strategy depends almost on a dot pattern high rise apartment.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
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 callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
