Given the ongoing global urbanization and the rise of heat, flooding, and drought in cities, the integration of climate adaptive measures based on “ecosystem functions and services” becomes imperative in design. This study details the implementation process of a microclimate design model in the design and retrofitting of the housing project Ecohof Noorderveer in Wormerveer, the Netherlands. The model, which quantifies local urban heat and mitigating measures through ecosystem functionalities, was incorporated into the program of requirements. The design process followed a research-by-design trajectory, involving iterative creative collaboration among all stakeholders, including future residents, the municipality, the water board, and the architect. The research employed the CFIR method to compare anticipated implementation outcomes with actual results. The findings suggest that introducing the microclimate design model into the program of requirements proved beneficial for the implementation process in the early design stage. The research-by-design approach was also deemed helpful, contingent on careful involvement of all participants in the knowledge-sharing process. This implementation method demonstrates significant potential for scaling up to standard urban development projects.@en

Urban areas often experience temperature imbalances, resulting in higher temperatures than their rural surroundings, known as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. This effect has adverse consequences such as heightened heat-related morbidity and mortality, amplified energy demands, aggravated water scarcity, and diminished urban living comfort. These effects are expected to intensify due to urbanization, making cities more susceptible to heat-related problems and increasing the number of inhabitants subjected to them, and climate change, increasing the frequency and Intensity of heatwaves occurring. As more than half of the world population lives in these urban areas, the imperative for effective mitigation strategies becomes paramount.

Addressing the complexity of the urban environment necessitates the collaboration of various disciplines to create effective UHI mitigation strategies. However, the integration and dissemination of multidisciplinary knowledge in this context are currently inadequate. This study bridges this gap by introducing a multidisciplinary typology-based framework employing a concurrent mixed-method approach, encompassing systematic literature reviews, semi-structured expert interviews, and multidisciplinary workshops in four distinct phases. These phases are specifically designed to identify, collect, integrate, and disseminate knowledge in this field, with applicability across diverse disciplines and contexts.

While the framework was first designed for the technologies at "Heat Square" of "The Green Village" in Delft, Netherlands, it is highly adaptable and can accommodate the inclusion of different technologies to enhance its impact. Given the increasing importance of addressing UHI challenges, this framework contributes to integrating and disseminating knowledge, supporting the creation of mitigation strategies and, therefore, contributing to creating livable and resilient urban environments in response to a changing climate.

Green roofs can play an important role in reducing problems in urban areas by being flexible, multifunctional and adaptable. These features of nature have proven effective in combating climate change and contribute to human well-being. Previous research has shown that green roofs can sometimes be cost-effective, but the benefits included in cost-benefit analyses are fragmented and an absence of a learning curve in the literature regarding green roofs is discernible. This research focuses on how to determine the economic value of the benefits of green roofs and what methodologies are used to do so. There is also a need to bridge the gap between research on costs and benefits and research on external costs of production materials. This research contributes to bridging this gap by creating a full life-cycle cost-benefit analysis of a green roof by mapping and analysing current methodologies. This research contributes to sustainable development and in it serves as a starting point to determine the utilisation of green roofs with the pursuit of sustainable urban development.

Urban areas are prone to extremely high temperatures as a result of climate change and the urban heat island effect. Urban micro-climate modelling has become an important tool to evaluate the effect of heat mitigating measures and develop climate-sensitive urban designs. However, many models lack the accurate fine scale simulation of evapotranspiration influence and soil moisture conditions to predict human thermal comfort (HTC).
This works objective is to better understand the coupling of the heat and water balance for micro-climate predictions of urban squares and its influence on the HTC, especially under the influence of greening. Therefore, a literature review on recent model developments was conducted. Additionally, a case study was performed for the Heat Square in the Green Village using the model VTUF-3D, chosen based on the literature review.
Five urban micro-climate models work on the fine scale water balance representation, namely ENVI-met, i-Tree Hydro+, Solene-Microclimat, ST, and VTUF-3D. ENVI-met offers comprehensive analysis options of greening solutions and user-friendliness, while VTUF-3D excels in detailing soil and plant characteristics. Given the detailed water balance simulation and the accurate trend prediction for the latent heat flux, it is expected that greening effects on the urban micro-climate of the Heat Square can be predicted accurately with VTUF-3D, if not for spatial and human thermal comfort assessment.
The reviewed models require further model development towards a comprehensive water balance representation and related greening analysis options. Additionally, further efforts towards model applicability are needed, including validation and user-friendliness. VTUF-3D requires improvement of spatial variability representation and HTC prediction.
Note, the literature review is no holistic assessment and does not provide a conclusion on the overall performance of the models. The case study was limited in model feature configuration.

Concrete is affected by a variety of environmental factors, and its temperature varies with time and other meteorological factors. The subsequent construction of the Heat Square is supported by an analysis of concrete temperature changes and their environmental influences. This article evaluates the variation of concrete block temperature by two months of field measurements at the Heat Square and meteorological data from The Green Village. The temperature of the concrete bricks changed asymmetrically, with the cooling time being much longer than the warming time. The maximum temperature occurred in the early morning after sunset, with a 3-hour time delay between changes in concrete temperature. By using partial correlation analysis, the most significant influence of meteorological factors on the surface temperature was the air temperature and the least influence of changes in relative humidity on the surface temperature. The article's analysis offers two suggestions for the Heat Square's construction: (1) Include measurements of near-surface wind speed. (2) Combine temperature measurements taken at various depths. (3) Subsequent research can explore the cooling effect by analyzing the shading effect of plants.

The urban heat island, is a serious threat for the urban well-being, and can be determined by the local energy balance. The surface energy balance, with respect to incoming radiative energy and subsequent partitioning into reflected energy (albedo), absorbed energy and further partitioning of latter into convectional heat (QH), radiative heat (QR) and latent heat (QE) by using commonly applied urban materials and vegetation types, was therefore experimentally quantified in this study. In agreement with previous studies it was found that materials convert most of absorbed energy into convectional heat (>92%) while vegetation channels a substantial part of absorbed radiative energy into latent heat (27–50%). It is for the first time experimentally demonstrated that significant differences in thermal behaviour between different types of urban vegetation surfaces occur. Of the investigated vegetation types ivy and moss showed respectively the highest (0.10) and lowest (0.07) albedo, but sedum and moss channelled respectively lowest (27%) and highest (50%) percentage of the absorbed radiative energy into latent heat production. Of the four investigated plant types, moss appeared most effective in preventing UHI, converting only 50% of incoming radiative energy into convectional heat, while sedum was least effective converting 73% of incoming radiative energy into convectional heat. These quantitative measurements show that strategic use of specific types of urban vegetation surfaces, instead of commonly applied building materials, can be an effective measure for mitigation of UHI leading to improved climate resilient cities.@en

In order to study the effects of Urban Heat Island and the possibilities of combating it with Vegetation Cooling, this thesis project proposes the use of available tools/information in Building Information Modelling. By building on an empirically validated model for the calculation of UHI, this project undertakes the translation of that model into the digital environment. By automating calculations and applying them to larger scales, the project then evaluates the validity of the initial model through a satellite thermal imagery comparison. Throughout the undertaking, much is experienced regarding the difficulties of BIM implementation in projects, which is later reflected upon.

Examining the actual major environmental and social problems of the modern city, e.g., pollution, difficulties in food and water supply, poverty or homelessness, this study argues that insights from the field of ecology could offer structural solutions. In particular, specific ecosystem services could be used to fight/solve specific urban problems. Today, on a large scale, only a few different ecosystem services from outside the urban area are used as ecosystems, as biotopes are insufficiently available inside the city boundary. Their physical absence obstructs the use of their benefits and leaves an important potential of urban ecological space unused. Most vegetation was banned from cities during urban history, what may have been the fundamental cause of several major urban problems emerging today. Therefore, the solving potential was analyzed of 20 ecological services if consistently located inside the urban boundary. According to the results, respectively, 14 and 7 ecosystem services can be linked as solutions to 10 environmental and 8 social problems eminent in contemporary cities. This study, therefore, concludes that structural integrating ecosystem services in the built-up urban space: (1) could solve major urban environmental and social problems; (2) improve urban sustainability; (3) revitalize degraded urban areas.@en

Bijna alle stedelijke klimatologische problemen zijn te herleiden naar het ontbreken van ecosysteemdiensten. Dat blijkt uit onderzoek van de TU Delft Faculteit Civiele Techniek, afdeling Materialen en Duurzaamheid. ‘Ook vonden we dit gebrek medeverantwoordelijk voor veel stedelijke sociale problemen,’ aldus de auteurs. Op basis van het onderzoek ontwikkelden zij een module die inzicht verschaft in de verbeteringen die ecosysteemdiensten ons bieden.@en