Addressing thermal and air quality comfort in future urban design using novel digital tools.

Research Project, 2020 – 2022

Current urban design fairly addresses noise and wind comfort but do not consider thermal comfort and impact of green areas to reduce local temperatures and improve air quality. This research proposal investigates future urban design to achieve thermal and air quality comfort for the majority of urban residents. The final results will provide new guidelines for sustainable urban design and evaluate the best strategies to enhance urban comfort. We will employ a state of the art digital tool based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) with unique features in terms of spatial resolution and computational speed.
The specific objectives of the proposal are i) Upgrading the existing tool with models for heat and pollution transport including the effects of green areas. ii) Developing a physical understanding of the interplay between wind flow patterns and human comfort in urban areas. iii) Applying the digital tool into an urban design study in Gothenburg, to identify critical locations of enhanced (or lower) urban comfort. iv) Providing specific guidelines and test different strategies (use of vegetation and green roofs, cool roofs, traffic restriction plans).
The research plan will be developed in close collaboration with the Gothenburg urban development department (Göteborgs Stadsbyggnadskontoret) that is interested in evaluating urban comfort and mitigation plans (in particular greenery use) to reduce local high-temperature islands.