Impacts of City Morphology on the Microclimatic Conditions of Consolidated Urban Areas in São Paulo During Hot Days

EasyChair Preprint 8722

Abstract

This research evaluated the impacts that different morphological compositions of urban areas cause on the microclimatic conditions during hot days, based on simulations of the thermal conditions of open urban spaces in São Paulo. Five models representing neighborhoods with different morphological aspects were analyzed using the ENVI-met software calibrated from empirical measurements of microclimatic variables in the real environment of one of the models. All models were submitted to the same microclimate data and the analysis compared the main thermal variables results (air temperature, Mean Radiant Temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, direct, reflected and long wave radiation, daily hours of sunshine) over a 24-hour period.

There was a maximum difference of 1.5°C in air temperature between the central points of the models. During daytime, the models with less verticalization and higher sky view factors values presented the highest air temperature, since open spaces are more exposed to direct sunlight, allowing greater surface heating, and the densest model showed the lowest air temperature, due to its urban canyon configuration. At night, the most verticalized model presented the highest air temperature, mainly due to the greater accumulation and trapping of heat by the urban canyon.

This work corroborates the results found in other researches, since it was found that different morphologies of the urban space impact on the thermal conditions of open urban spaces. They can change the received radiation, wind speed, air temperature, Mean Radiant Temperature and, consequently, the thermal comfort indexes in the open urban spaces and the demand of air conditioning in the buildings. The models with higher sky view factors presented higher air temperature during daytime, with a quicker heating due to the exposure to sunlight and, at night, the denser models showed the highest temperatures, due to the accumulation of heat in the urban canyon.

Keyphrases: Urban comfort, Urban thermal comfort, urban climate, urban environment, urban pedestrian comfort

@booklet{EasyChair:8722,
  author    = {Gabriel Bonansea De Alencar Novaes and Leonardo Marques Monteiro},
  title     = {Impacts of City Morphology on the Microclimatic Conditions of Consolidated Urban Areas in São Paulo During Hot Days},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 8722},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2022}}