MODELLING THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN URBANHEAT ISLAND AND URBAN GEOMETRY

Authors

DINA SAADALLAH Department of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, EgyptFollow

Keywords

Urban Heat Island, Urban Geometry, Improving Quality of Life, ENVI- met

Disciplines

Architecture | Business | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

Cities are a complex, adaptive, and self-organizing systems, that are faced with several challenges due to rapid urbanization such as socio-demographic problems, air pollution, threat of climate change, and urban heat island effect (Kim and Han, 2012). Urbanization, is one of the greatest challenges of this century, that is strongly affecting the atmosphere and urban context of cities. In the light of these challenges there is a crucial need to study the effect of urban heat island phenomenon, which is characterized by an increased air temperature, from the periphery to the center of the cities, which it is partly caused by the urban geometry and alter the energy balance of these cities. Urban heat island is generally considered a problem because it induces many undesirable effects, such as discomfort in people life, health problems, the need for more energy consumption and more pollution. Therefore, investigating the relation between urban Geometry and Urban heat island is essential according to Bittencourt and Candido (2010) they stated the importance of analyzing urban aerodynamics phenomenon to determine environmental air quality, wind pressure on urban geometry, as understanding the wind dispersion through the city help in improving quality of urban design thus quality of life. This research aims in investigating UHI characteristics and suggests some feasible mitigation strategies in order to reduce the air temperature and save energy using ENVI- met. Aiming to adapt this model to real urban conditions in New Borg El Arab City, Alexandria, Egypt, as it is affected by severe heatwaves in summer, providing visual and numeric information that can be used by urban planners and architects to support their decisions.

Recommended Citation

SAADALLAH, DINA Department of Architectural Engineering, Faculty of Engineering (2018) "MODELLING THE INTERACTIONS BETWEEN URBANHEAT ISLAND AND URBAN GEOMETRY," BAU Journal - Health and Wellbeing: Vol. 1: Iss. 3, Article 14.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.54729/2789-8288.1066