Cool Tree Architecture: A Descriptive Framework for a Tree Architecture Typology to Temper Urban Microclimates

As the elementary unit of the urban forest, trees temper thermal extremes in urban microclimates through shading and evapotranspiration, and by altering the movement of air. Metrics on shade performances of different species, however, are currently limited, which can be remedied by the development of a method to describe the range of species and...

Modelling Air Flow and Temperature in Urban Area: The influence of vegetation in a street canyon and the implemention of the Van Leer limiter

In this thesis, a model for air flow and temperature in urban areas is studied. In particular, the influence of vegetation in a street canyon is investigated. This includes the effect of vegetation on air flow and the cooling property of vegetation to lower temperature in street canyons. Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations with vegetation...

On the daytime micro-climatic conditions inside an idealized 2D urban canyon

This study investigated the surface temperature, air temperature and mean radiant temperature inside an idealized 2D street geometry during daytime. The goal was to unravel the relative impact of radiative transfer, heat conduction and ventilation to the urban heat budget. A building-resolving simulation model has been used, which represents...

Water as a coolant of cities

Since more than half of the world population already lives in cities, it is important to understand the urban climate and its particularities. One of the typical aspects of urban areas is that cities are generally warmer than their rural surrounding. This phenomenon was first time described 200 years ago in the case of London and is commonly...

Uchimizu: A Cool(ing) Tradition to Locally Decrease Air Temperature

The urban heat island effect was first described 200 years ago, but the development of ways to mitigate heat in urban areas reaches much further into the past. Uchimizu is a 17th century Japanese tradition, in which water is sprinkled around houses to cool the ground surface and air by evaporation. Unfortunately, the number of published studies...

Hotterdam: Mapping the social, morphological, and land-use dimensions of the Rotterdam urban heat island

Climate scientists forecast that heat waves will occur more often in the Netherlands in the coming decades. The Hotterdam study accordingly measured urban heat and modelled the surface energy balance in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. It identified in detail the city’s social, morphological, and land-use dimensions using a geographic information...

Using satellite imagery analysis to classify and redesign provincial parks for a better cooling effect on cities: The case study of South Holland

The purpose of this research is to analyse the thermal behaviour of South Holland provincial parks during heat waves, in order to provide design adaptation guidelines to increase their cooling capacity over the hotspots present in their urban surroundings. This research analyses the thermal behaviour of different land use patches (forests,...

Hot Town! Summer in the city: A research into the relation between Rotterdam’s South socially deprived neighbourhoods and the urban heat island

Cities face challenges protecting their population from high air temperatures. In the coming century cities tend to become warmer as a consequence of global warming exacerbating the urban heat island. This affects the livability of neighbourhoods with negative effects for the population. The urban heat island is the phenomenon where the city...

Surface thermal analysis of North Brabant cities and neighbourhoods during heat waves

The urban heat island effect is often associated with large metropolises. However, in the Netherlands even small cities will be affected by the phenomenon in the future (Hove et al., 2011), due to the dispersed or mosaic urbanisation patterns in particularly the southern part of the country: the province of North Brabant. This study analyses the...

The Hague 2040+. An Integrated Approach Towards Heat Proof Cities

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges we face during this century; heatwaves, periods of extreme drought, and heavy rainfall get more common. Increasing temperatures have massive impact on cities. High amounts of paved- and built-up surfaces store heat during the day, making cities warmer than their rural environment. In order to keep...

Old Beijing New Life: Climate Adaptive Urban Regeneration in Old Beijing Center

The site Dashilan is the most sever UHI area of Beijing currently. Located in the center of Old Beijing, it is consist of historical courtyards with flourish old brand commercial and many cultural heritages. High density (15m2/house), almost fully covered by concrete without enough green space, make this area really have a bad living quality and...

Den Haag’s options against urban heat: Assessment and recommendations for current environmental policies regarding temperature effects

Climate change is characterised by a global increase in temperature and by the increase in the number of extreme weather events like; heatwaves, extreme droughts, and heavy rainfall. Ur-banisation can be seen as a climate problem, for example because of the lack of water storage in cities during times of drought and the lack of drainage during...

Design principles for Urban Heat Management

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect assumes that cities accumulate heat and are consequently warmer than their peripheries. During the evening and at night, when the countryside has cooled down and the city retains the heat accumulated during the day, the difference is at its maximum. Global climate change brings a temperature rise in the...