New city block design approaches incorporating environmental assessment for downtown districts in cities with severe winter climates

Abstract

Urban design approaches in many Japanese cities are based on principles that are similar throughout the country without considering the variety in regional climates. Especially in cities with severe winter weather, providing desirable environments for public spaces under conditions of snow and strong winds is an important issue in urban design. This paper proposes new approaches to urban design with environmental assessments using snow and wind simulations to enable the development of original urban design concepts to improve the quality of public space. Using city blocks in downtown Sapporo, Japan as a case study, a design process flow is established together with conceptual models of city block design, assessing each of the steps of the process. The results of the assessment are then reflected back to the models and re-evaluated with an environmental assessment. With the results, the authors identify a number of principles of city block design for downtown Sapporo.