Study on the Effect of Streets’ Space Forms on Campus Microclimate in the Severe Cold Region of China—Case Study of a University Campus in Daqing City

Abstract

In urban areas, local microclimate is influenced by architectural forms, which will in turn affect human comfort. Taking Daqing as an example, this article studies the microclimate of a university campus in the severe cold area in China. Based on the space features of the streets, we categorize the streets into three types: open type, semi-open type, and street-entry type. Through analysis, this article researches microclimates of the three kinds of streets, the influence of building heating on the surrounding thermal environment, the relationship between streets’ morphology features and microclimate and human comfort (physiological equivalent temperature, PET). By study and analysis, we have the following findings: for open-type streets, the average globe temperatures of streets with different orientations can reach 1.3 °C in winter because of the influence of sidewalk trees. For semi-open-type streets, streets temperature is under the influence of the locating directions of buildings. The maximum air temperature difference among streets with different building arrangements reaches 2.1 °C in winter. For street-entry-type streets, the height–width ratios and orientations of streets are related to the continuity degree of the street interfaces. The building interface acts as a heating element and affect the surrounding thermal environment by heat convection and heat radiation. Analysis demonstrates that heat convection has a more obvious effect on rising surrounding temperature than heat radiation. Buildings with higher heat radiation witness higher globe temperature. For street-entry-type streets and semi-open-type streets, the SVF (sky view factor) and L/C (plane opening rate) of streets are negatively correlated with temperature and PET, but positively correlated with wind speed. If the SVF increases 0.1, the air temperature will reduce 0.1 °C, the wind speed will increase 0.19 m/s, and the PET will reduce 0.7 °C.