Effectiveness of strategies to reduce urban warming. Study in a city with arid climate

Abstract

Cities modify microclimatic parameters that increase urban warming. In regard to this, there are some strategies that contribute to the reduction of this impact in arid contexts. The present work evaluates the level of effectiveness of strategies that can be feasible incorporated. For this, 96 scenarios that combine 2 building heights (3 and 6m), 3 street widths (16, 20 and 30m) and 4 orientations (E-O, N-S, NO-SE and NE-SO) were designed. By using ENVI-met software, the thermal behavior of the proposed scenarios was simulated; the model was validated by in situ microclimatic monitoring. The simulation stages were: 1. morphology, 2. forestation, 3. albedo and 4. combined strategies. The most important findings indicate that the incorporation of combined strategies is the most effective option that maximizes the individual benefits; reaching decreases of up to 12% in the maximum temperature, 10% in the minimum and 11% in the average.