Assessment and Mitigation Strategies to Counteract Overheating in Urban Historical Areas in Rome
As urban overheating is increasing, there is a strong public interest towards mitigation strategies to enhance comfortable urban spaces, for their role in supporting urban metabolism and social life. The study presents an assessment of the existing thermal comfort and usage of San Silvestro Square i...
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doaj-fc3b5813bc9347e5802b44778a04af732020-11-24T22:58:01ZengMDPI AGClimate2225-11542018-03-01611810.3390/cli6010018cli6010018Assessment and Mitigation Strategies to Counteract Overheating in Urban Historical Areas in RomeFlavia Laureti0Letizia Martinelli1Alessandra Battisti2Department of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture, La Sapienza University, Via Flaminia 72, 00196 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture, La Sapienza University, Via Flaminia 72, 00196 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Planning, Design and Technology of Architecture, La Sapienza University, Via Flaminia 72, 00196 Rome, ItalyAs urban overheating is increasing, there is a strong public interest towards mitigation strategies to enhance comfortable urban spaces, for their role in supporting urban metabolism and social life. The study presents an assessment of the existing thermal comfort and usage of San Silvestro Square in Rome during the summer, and performs the simulation of cooling strategies scenarios, to understand their mitigation potential for renovation projects. The first stage concerns a field analysis of the thermal and radiative environment on the 1st and 2nd of August 2014, including meteorological measurements and unobtrusive observations, to understand how people experience and respond to extreme microclimate conditions. In the second stage, the research proposes scenario simulations on the same day to examine the influence of cool colored materials, trees and vegetative surfaces on thermal comfort. The thermal comfort assessment was based on Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET), whereas microclimatic simulations were conducted with CFD calculations (ENVImet v.4.3.1). The first stage shows a strong relationship between lower PET values and attendance rate, depending on daily shading patterns. The second stage shows a relevant improvement of thermal comfort, with PET values of −12 °C comparing to the no-intervention scenario, associated with a combination of cool materials and trees.http://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/6/1/18overheatingsummer heat stressurban open spaceshadingthermal comfortPhysiologically Equivalent Temperaturemitigation strategiescooling technologiescool materials |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Flavia Laureti Letizia Martinelli Alessandra Battisti |
spellingShingle |
Flavia Laureti Letizia Martinelli Alessandra Battisti Assessment and Mitigation Strategies to Counteract Overheating in Urban Historical Areas in Rome Climate overheating summer heat stress urban open space shading thermal comfort Physiologically Equivalent Temperature mitigation strategies cooling technologies cool materials |
author_facet |
Flavia Laureti Letizia Martinelli Alessandra Battisti |
author_sort |
Flavia Laureti |
title |
Assessment and Mitigation Strategies to Counteract Overheating in Urban Historical Areas in Rome |
title_short |
Assessment and Mitigation Strategies to Counteract Overheating in Urban Historical Areas in Rome |
title_full |
Assessment and Mitigation Strategies to Counteract Overheating in Urban Historical Areas in Rome |
title_fullStr |
Assessment and Mitigation Strategies to Counteract Overheating in Urban Historical Areas in Rome |
title_full_unstemmed |
Assessment and Mitigation Strategies to Counteract Overheating in Urban Historical Areas in Rome |
title_sort |
assessment and mitigation strategies to counteract overheating in urban historical areas in rome |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Climate |
issn |
2225-1154 |
publishDate |
2018-03-01 |
description |
As urban overheating is increasing, there is a strong public interest towards mitigation strategies to enhance comfortable urban spaces, for their role in supporting urban metabolism and social life. The study presents an assessment of the existing thermal comfort and usage of San Silvestro Square in Rome during the summer, and performs the simulation of cooling strategies scenarios, to understand their mitigation potential for renovation projects. The first stage concerns a field analysis of the thermal and radiative environment on the 1st and 2nd of August 2014, including meteorological measurements and unobtrusive observations, to understand how people experience and respond to extreme microclimate conditions. In the second stage, the research proposes scenario simulations on the same day to examine the influence of cool colored materials, trees and vegetative surfaces on thermal comfort. The thermal comfort assessment was based on Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET), whereas microclimatic simulations were conducted with CFD calculations (ENVImet v.4.3.1). The first stage shows a strong relationship between lower PET values and attendance rate, depending on daily shading patterns. The second stage shows a relevant improvement of thermal comfort, with PET values of −12 °C comparing to the no-intervention scenario, associated with a combination of cool materials and trees. |
topic |
overheating summer heat stress urban open space shading thermal comfort Physiologically Equivalent Temperature mitigation strategies cooling technologies cool materials |
url |
http://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/6/1/18 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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1725648723397050368 |