The Effect of Urban Design on Outdoor Thermal Environment in a Central Business District Area in Singapore

Abstract

Outdoor thermal environment in urban spaces is important for people to enjoy the urban environment. This paper investigated the effect of urban design on outdoor thermal environment in an urban street in the central business district in Singapore, focusing on street orientation and height-to-width ratio. The microclimatic parameters of different street design scenarios were determined by ENVI-met numerical simulation. Field measurement was conducted to validate the results from the numerical simulation and they were in good agreement. For different design scenarios, it is found that (1) The air temperature differences did not exceed 0.8°C; (2) The mean radiant temperature differences could exceed 40°C; (3) The maximum wind speed difference was 0.6 m/s; (4) No distinct relative humidity differences could be found. The results show that shading is the key strategy for improving outdoor thermal environment in Singapore because it leads to reduction on the air temperature and mean radiant temperature simultaneously. N-S orientated street had the best thermal environment condition.Outdoor thermal environment in urban spaces is important for people to enjoy the urban environment. This paper investigated the effect of urban design on outdoor thermal environment in an urban street in the central business district in Singapore, focusing on street orientation and height-to-width ratio. The microclimatic parameters of different street design scenarios were determined by ENVI-met numerical simulation. Field measurement was conducted to validate the results from the numerical simulation and they were in good agreement. For different design scenarios, it is found that (1) The air temperature differences did not exceed 0.8°C; (2) The mean radiant temperature differences could exceed 40°C; (3) The maximum wind speed difference was 0.6 m/s; (4) No distinct relative humidity differences could be found. The results show that shading is the key strategy for improving outdoor thermal environment in Singapore because it leads to reduction on the air temperature and mean radiant temperature simultaneously. N-S orientated street had the best thermal environment condition. Shading achieved by means of high aspect ratios can improve thermal environment at street level.