Roofpedia: Automatic mapping of green and solar roofs for an open roofscape registry and evaluation of urban sustainability

https://www.mdpi.com/2413-8851/3/1/18/pdf

Solving traffic congestion through street renaissance: a perspective from dense Asian cities

Received: 18 October 2020 Accepted: 23 January 2021 Green urban infrastructures have a significant impact on urban climate mitigation, on indoor and outdoor thermal comfort and on energy performance of buildings. In this paper, outdoor thermal comfort conditions and energy saving for space heating and cooling were investigated before and after the use of roof-integrated green technologies. Existing urban energy and climate models and tools were applied to an urban area located in a Turin (Italy). CitySim, ENVI-met and SOLWEIG tools and a GIS-based model were used to evaluate the mean radiant temperature and the thermal comfort of outdoor spaces before and after the use of vegetated roofs and green surfaces such as the predicted mean vote (PMV), the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) and the universal thermal climate index (UTCI). A GIS-based engineering model and CitySim tool were used to evaluate the energy saving and energy independence index for space heating and cooling after the use of green roofs and solar technologies. According to the shape and the suitability of rooftop elaborated with GIS tools, some roofs were identified as potential green roofs other as potential solar roofs for installing solar thermal collectors and photovoltaic panels. According to the results it is possible to confirm that the use of green roofs and urban greenery can decrease the mean radiant temperature until about 10°C during summer season, improving outdoor thermal comfort conditions and energy savings with a reduction of 12% for space cooling energy consumption.

/pdf/roof-integrated-green-technologies-energy-saving-and-outdoor-29s8c484se.pdf

Roof-Integrated Green Technologies, Energy Saving and Outdoor Thermal Comfort: Insights from a Case Study in Urban Environment

This paper investigates how natural resource conditions impact the physical development of cities and how, once built, the urban spatial structure leads to different patterns of resource use. The point of departure for this research is the common “resource urbanisms” assumption that cities are directly affected by the availability and costs of natural resources, and that in turn, different urbanisms result in substantial differences in resource use and consequent impact on the environment. Considering extreme and divergent, higher-income urban models of Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Singapore, the paper focusses on two resources, land and energy, and the case of building cooling and transport energy demand. The research uses a mixed methods approach which includes qualitative methods such as expert interviews, analysis of planning documents and historic planning decisions, alongside quantitative methods such as remote sensing, GIS and data analysis and energy modelling. The paper suggests that land availability is a major driver of urban form while energy prices may play a secondary role. It also finds that urban form-induced energy efficiencies for transport and cooling energy diverge in the four cities by a factor of five and two, respectively.

/pdf/between-abundance-and-constraints-the-natural-resource-311llhiye5.pdf

Between abundance and constraints: The natural resource equation of Asia’s diverging, higher-income city models

The article presents the process of creating a tool using GIS systems to describe the city’s spatial structure. Therefore, the subject of this research was the method of describing the city structure using non-functional zoning, in conjunction with the use of urban indicators. Using the relationships between the values of urban indicators and individual typologies of buildings, they can be assigned to subsequent zones from the Rural-to-Urban Transect methodology. Therefore, in this article, urban indicators have been defined, thanks to which it is possible to distinguish different typologies of buildings. Next, the relationships between selected indicators and transect zones have been examined, and thanks to the obtained conclusions, transect zones for Warsaw have been defined. Finally, the spatial structure of a selected part of Warsaw has been described using these zones. The purpose of this study is also to initially assess the usefulness of the developed tool for the needs of urban planners.

/pdf/morphology-of-warsaw-city-structure-using-urban-indexes-and-1vorzd08.pdf

Morphology of Warsaw City Structure Using Urban Indexes and GIS Tools

Sustainable development of cities and the overall efficiency of urban infrastructure have emerged as central issues in policy consideration. Consequently, investigating the influence of urban physical form on resource use is critical. This paper investigates energy use due to vertical mobility in the context of Asia’s diverging cities. Micro mobility of citizens’ movement in the vertical direction has a distinct impact on the total energy consumption of a city or urban block. The objective of this research is to analyse the impact of different urban morphologies on vertical mobility—from buildings to urban blocks. A methodology is proposed to calculate energy consumption of lifts, based on a detailed review of literature, codes of practice, the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO)/DIS 25745-1 standard and 3D city models. Furthermore, a tool is developed and applied in 20 typical urban blocks in four cities: Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Hong Kong and Singapore. The average annual specific energy consumption of lifts varies significantly across the samples. A comparative analysis of all the morphologies across these cities help to understand the impact of building forms, usage, and a number of further parameters on the energy consumption for vertical mobility.

Alice Duval

Papers

Impact of Urban Morphology on Energy Consumption of Vertical Mobility in Asian Cities—A Comparative Analysis with 3D City Models