Improving open space design to cope better with urban heat island effects

Cities induce “urban heat islands” that are characterised by increased mean temperatures compared to rural outskirts. The annual mean air temperature of a city can be one to three degree Celsius warm- er than its rural surroundings. In extreme cases the differences can reach nine to ten degree Celsius (Kuttler 2011, Loibl et al. 2011). Climate projections forecast acceler- ated global warming affecting particular- ly cities (Schär et al. 2004, Alexandri and Jones 2006). Even in mid-latitude Europe- an cities climate change may have a signifi- cant impact on urban thermal comfort. As urban populations continue to grow, an- thropogenic heat flux will also increase; without adaptation it will intensify the ur- ban heat island effects. This article refers to the study Urban Fabric Types and Micro- climate Response: Assessment and Design Im- provement (UFT-ADI) carried out by a team from Vienna University of Technology, Technische Universität München and the Austrian Institute of Technology (Stiles et al. 2013, 2014). Here the following tasks of the study are addressed:

• the urban fabric typology for Vienna and sample area selection for microclimate simulations

• a field study: microclimate monitoring and simulations for model validation

• microclimate simulations without and with adaptation measures.

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• Improving open space design to cope better with urban heat island effects