The effectiveness of shade trees for urban heat mitigation, a comparative numerical simulation study

• As a result of climate change, many regions are projected to see increases in air temperatures and extreme heat events over the coming decades. Since these trends are expected to exacerbate existing conditions in cites, urban heat mitigation will be one of the key challenges of the twenty-first century. A frequently advocated means of mitigating urban heat is through shade trees. Through the reduction of air and radiative temperatures trees not only improve outdoor human thermal comfort, but also reduce the cooling loads of buildings. This paper investigates the impact of different canopy cover ratios and tree layouts on the urban microclimate. The numerical simulation study utilizes four characteristic dense urban configurations from Budapest (Hungary) to assess the influences of these factors on the effectiveness of shade trees in mitigating urban heat. The study applies ENVI-met for microclimate simulation and MATLAB for the analysis and visualization of the results. Microclimate conditions within the urban canopy layer are examined on the basis of diurnal air and mean radiant temperatures. Preliminary results indicate that the effectiveness of shade trees is the function of the urban configurations' initial thermal performance. Since microclimate improvements by way of trees are primarily achieved through shading, greatest reduction in radiative temperatures is achieved in configurations with large open spaces. In the case of air temperature, increasing the canopy cover increases the added benefit of temperature reduction—indicating that reduced turbulence can in certain cases be beneficial.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Klimatforskning (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Climate Research (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Energy and Built Environments

Energi och samhällsbyggnad

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

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