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The Impact of Urban Design Descriptors on Outdoor Thermal Environment: A Literature Review

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  • Pingying Lin

    (Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China)

  • Zhonghua Gou

    (Cities Research Institute, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD 4215, Australia)

  • Stephen Siu-Yu Lau

    (Department of Architecture, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117566, Singapore)

  • Hao Qin

    (Department of Architecture, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China)

Abstract

This paper presents a literature review on urban design indicators addressing the impact of urban geometry and vegetation on the outdoor thermal environment at the pedestrian level, as urban geometry and vegetation have been regarded as the most influential urban design factors that affect outdoor microclimate. The thermal balance concept is first introduced to elaborate how each component of energy fluxes is affected by the urban built environment, which helps to explore the underlying thermophysical mechanisms of how urban design modifies the outdoor thermal environment. The literature on numerous urban design descriptors addressing urban geometric characteristics is categorized into five groups in this paper according to the design features that the parameters entail, including land use intensity, building form, canyon geometry, space enclosure and descriptive characteristics. The literature on urban vegetation descriptors is reviewed together, followed by the combined effect of urban geometry and vegetation. This paper identifies a series of important urban design parameters and shows that the impact of design parameters on thermal environment varies with time, season, local climate and urban contexts. Contradictory impacts often occur between daytime and nighttime, or different seasons, which requests trade-offs to be achieved when proposing design strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Pingying Lin & Zhonghua Gou & Stephen Siu-Yu Lau & Hao Qin, 2017. "The Impact of Urban Design Descriptors on Outdoor Thermal Environment: A Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-19, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:10:y:2017:i:12:p:2151-:d:123054
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Umberto Berardi & Yupeng Wang, 2016. "The Effect of a Denser City over the Urban Microclimate: The Case of Toronto," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-11, August.
    2. Andreou, E. & Axarli, K., 2012. "Investigation of urban canyon microclimate in traditional and contemporary environment. Experimental investigation and parametric analysis," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 354-363.
    3. Andreou, E., 2013. "Thermal comfort in outdoor spaces and urban canyon microclimate," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 182-188.
    4. Luc Adolphe, 2001. "A Simplified Model of Urban Morphology: Application to an Analysis of the Environmental Performance of Cities," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 28(2), pages 183-200, April.
    5. Krüger, E. & Pearlmutter, D. & Rasia, F., 2010. "Evaluating the impact of canyon geometry and orientation on cooling loads in a high-mass building in a hot dry environment," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(6), pages 2068-2078, June.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Komi Bernard Bedra & Bohong Zheng & Jiayu Li & Xi Luo, 2023. "A Parametric-Simulation Method to Study the Interconnections between Urban-Street-Morphology Indicators and Their Effects on Pedestrian Thermal Comfort in Tropical Summer," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-23, May.
    3. Stella Tsoka & Katerina Tsikaloudaki & Theodoros Theodosiou & Dimitrios Bikas, 2020. "Urban Warming and Cities’ Microclimates: Investigation Methods and Mitigation Strategies—A Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-25, March.
    4. Lu, Yi & Sarkar, Chinmoy & Xiao, Yang, 2018. "The effect of street-level greenery on walking behavior: Evidence from Hong Kong," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 41-49.
    5. Randa Osama Shata & Ayman Hassaan Mahmoud & Mohammad Fahmy, 2021. "Correlating the Sky View Factor with the Pedestrian Thermal Environment in a Hot Arid University Campus Plaza," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-25, January.
    6. Patryk Antoszewski & Michał Krzyżaniak & Dariusz Świerk, 2022. "The Future of Climate-Resilient and Climate-Neutral City in the Temperate Climate Zone," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-60, April.
    7. Yunfang Jiang & Xuemei Han & Tiemao Shi & Danran Song, 2019. "Microclimatic Impact Analysis of Multi-Dimensional Indicators of Streetscape Fabric in the Medium Spatial Zone," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-31, March.
    8. Shiyi Song & Hong Leng & Han Xu & Ran Guo & Yan Zhao, 2020. "Impact of Urban Morphology and Climate on Heating Energy Consumption of Buildings in Severe Cold Regions," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(22), pages 1-24, November.
    9. Ernesto Antonini & Vincenzo Vodola & Jacopo Gaspari & Michaela De Giglio, 2020. "Outdoor Wellbeing and Quality of Life: A Scientific Literature Review on Thermal Comfort," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-22, April.
    10. Farshid Aram & Ebrahim Solgi & Ester Higueras García & Amir Mosavi & Annamária R. Várkonyi-Kóczy, 2019. "The Cooling Effect of Large-Scale Urban Parks on Surrounding Area Thermal Comfort," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-21, October.

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