The Influence of Residential Block Form on Summer Thermal Comfort of Street Canyons in the Warm Temperate Zone of China

Abstract

The residential block is the cognitive unit for residents to constitute urban imagery. As one of the most frequently used urban outdoor public spaces by residents, the thermal comfort of street canyons is an essential indicator for assessing sustainable and livable cities. The problem of the uncomfortable summer climate in the warm temperate zone of China has not been adequately studied. The study aims to analyze the influence of the building layout form of residential block units and block configuration on the outdoor summer thermal comfort of street canyons. Outdoor air temperature (Ta), mean radiant temperature (Tmrt), wind speed (Va), and physiological equivalent temperature (PET) were simulated using ENVI-met. A new index, PETws, was introduced based on a statistical analysis of the PET index to assess the overall street canyon thermal comfort of the block. The results indicate that the number of rows of buildings in the building row layout has a more significant effect on the summer thermal comfort PET of street canyons than the number of columns in the warm temperate zone, especially on N–S-oriented streets. Reducing the number of rows can increase the overall thermal comfort PETws of street canyons by a maximum of 2.2%. The best choice for the number of building columns is two columns. Adopting different block configurations can increase the thermal comfort PETws of street canyons by up to 2.5%. An optimal block form has been created to improve the overall street canyon summer thermal comfort of the block.