Design for Mitigating Urban Heat Island: Proposal of a Parametric Model

Abstract

Urban areas dramatically affect the microclimatic conditions of cities,and induce the ‘Urban Heat Island’ (UHI) effect, which generates manyundesirable conditions in the living environment. In recent years,several studies have been examined a strong correlation between themorphology of urban areas and the development of heat island intensity.Then the increasing need for climate responsive design approaches callsfor the development of new methodical approaches and tools to controlthe planned (trans)formation of the urban fabrics. Computationalmodelling techniques, in this context, suggest relevant methodologies toprovide an evidence-based design approach to the issue. This research,in this regard, aims to propose a parametric model for analyzing the keymorphological components of urban tissues with regards to the UHIintensity on the basis of ‘Sky View Factor’ (SVF) while testing thealternatives in generative manner. The proposed (parametric) model,therefore, stands on the close-correlation between the algorithmicsimulation based on the selected parameters and morphologicalanalysis. By the model, SVF values of the different building settings arecalculated with reference to the basic building codes of the developmentplanning system in Turkey (i.e. FAR, building height and setback) in anactual context. Then the proposed model is tested in the case of one of the transformation areas in Ankara, Turkey. Eventually, a methodicalframework is aimed for a climate responsive urban design process tomitigate urban heat island.