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Microclimatic response of urban form in the Mediterranean context

Conference Paper · September 2015

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.25747.48162

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 Sustainable Design and Technologies

Microclimatic response of urban form in the Mediterranean

context
Agnese Salvati1,2, Carlo Cecere1, Helena Coch2
1
SOS_UrbanLab, Facoltà di Ingegneria, Sapienza Università di Roma
2
Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona, UPC Barcelona
Keywords: urban textures, Mediterranean climate, Urban Heat island, Urban Weather
Generator, microclimate

Abstract

The relationship between morphology, climate and energy has always influenced
deeply the development of urban settlements. In the Mediterranean context, this pro-
cess led to compact and dense urban textures, made of highly inertial materials and
cladded with bright colors in order to prevent overheating and thermal discomfort.
Nowadays, cooling and heating systems relieves the architectural design from climatic
constraints. However this has resulted in increased energy consumption, especially in the
summer season because of the widespread use of air conditioning systems. The problem 719
is worsened by the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Shape and geometry of a city affect
its climate, and so the energy demand at the urban scale (Ratti 2003, Morganti 2012). The
proportions of the urban canyon (height/width ratio) can produce multiple reflections of
solar radiation. In addition, the cooling process is decreased during the night due to the
low values of the sky view factor (Oke, 2012). Therefore, in a dense and compact urban
texture, higher temperatures can occur especially during the night. The present study
seeks to highlight the effect of urban morphology on the UHI intensity in the Mediterra-
nean context. Several morphologically homogeneous textures of Rome and Barcelona
are parametrically modelled and compared, by means of the Urban Weather generator
tool (Bueno, 2012). The results show that air temperature substantially varies according to
different urban morphologies. Understanding the microclimatic behavior of most recur-
rent urban textures can steer energy and retrofitting policies at urban scale and help to
achieve the energy goals set by E.U.

city as organism|new visions for urban life

 Introduction

In 1963, in the famous book “Design with climate: bioclimatic approach to architec-
tural regionalism”, Olgyay stated, “It is a recognized fact that the forces of nature have
a direct effect on the formation of objects. (…) As sometimes in physics, the knowledge
of forms leads to the interpretation of forces that molded it, at other times the knowledge
of the forces at work guides a better insight into the form itself”.
When it comes to urban form and morphology, a major contribution to the outcome
is given by the local climate. Factors like the shape of the roofs, the proportion of solid
surfaces to open areas, the street’s vertical ratio and the house types are as much the re-
sult of traditions, culture and technical requirements as of climate and environment. Sure
enough, a strong relationship has been found between the housing type and the climate
zones, over a wide sample of locations in the world (Coch Roura & Rafael Serra Florensa,
1995; Olgyay, 1963). This holds true at both the building and city scale, especially in the
pre-industrial original settlements. The texture of the city, in fact, is outlined as a complex
mixture of different shapes but, on a larger scale, it reveals a specific layout as much
dense and compact as resulting from either friendly or adverse climatic conditions (Cor-
noldi & Los, 1982; Givoni, 1998; Higueras, 2006; Olgyay, 1963). This is quite evident in Medi-
terranean context where villages and cities present some recurring features that denote
a common historical background as well as the deep influence of the geomorphologi-
cal, environmental and climatic conditions. Shaded and compact urban textures, made
of highly inertial masonry construction cladded with bright colours, were meant to screen
the summer radiation and to mitigate and delay hot temperatures.
In the past, urban planning aimed at the modification of the environment in order
to enhance the beneficial effect of climate, in close relation with the culture, traditions
and nature of its territory. With the industrial revolution though a crucial turning point was
marked, because the technological, economic and environmental changes were of
720 such a scale that the city underwent deep transformations (Higueras, 2006).
As much the availability of cheap sources of energy as the impressive urban population
growth, led to urban structures and housing types completely freed from the natural con-
text characteristics: the fuel-based transport system facilitated the urban sprawl as well as
the development of air conditioning systems definitively relieved the architectural design
from climatic constraints. This process worsened over the years, so that today the inertial
walls have turned into glass skin anywhere in the world and, in most of the cases, instead
of protecting us from adverse climate, “work worse than the weather itself” (Coch, 1998).
As a result, energy consumption at urban scale has deeply increased, especially in the
summer season, due to the widespread use of air conditioning systems. Nowadays, the out-
look of a global climate change, the acknowledged shortage of the fossil resources and the
environmental threats have pushed the scientific community to investigate suitable solutions
to achieve more sustainable urban environments. The studies on morphology and urban cli-
mate have become once again matter of interest, but from a different viewpoint: from the
study of the building types that best respond to the climatic context, the focus has shifted
to the urban morphologies that allow for the least impact on the climate and environment.
One of the most evident climate modification induced by human action is, in fact, the
warming of urban areas compared to nearby rural areas, known as the Urban Heat Island
phenomenon. Higher temperatures occur in compact and dense urban environments,
which is definitely detrimental in Mediterranean climate to citizens’ health and urban en-
ergy consumption. As the phenomenon varies with different densities, there are urban areas
more affected than others, in which mitigation strategies should be particularly advised for
a beneficial outcome at urban scale. The study of the relationship between urban morphol-
ogy and urban climate in Mediterranean context is thus extremely useful to identify the most
vulnerable areas within the city, with respect to climate change and urban heat island.
Furthermore, in the searching of more sustainable urban forms, the density of the de-
velopment is still a crucial and debated topic; the present study aims at giving an original
contribution, from the point of view of the urban climate modifications induced by differ-
ent built densities.
city as organism|new visions for urban life
Figure 1. Selected urban textures and digital models.

721

Urban heat island and Morphology: state of the art

The urban heat island (UHI) is probably the most evident and documented phenom-
enon of climate changes induced by man (Oke, 1987). The process of urbanization pro-
duces radical changes in the energy and water balance compared to a rural environ-
ment; impervious surfaces, anthropogenic heat sources, building density and vegetation
scarcity transform the urban area in a big heat tank. Considering these major changes,
it is hardly surprising that urban areas exhibit a different “urban climate”, with generally
warmer air temperatures, especially during the night.
Heat islands have been the subject of research in Europe for at least 100 years so far.
Santamouris (Mat Santamouris, 2007) compared the results for measurements conducted
city as organism|new visions for urban life
 in different cities in Mediterranean zone (Rome, Parma, Lisbon, Aveiro, Madrid, Granada,
Athens, Turky); the temperature gap between urban areas and rural areas was found
in the range between 2°C and 9.0°C. The maximum UHI intensities were oserved during
summer period in Athens, Rome, Madrid and Parma. Heat islands have a relevant impact
on urban energy consumption, mainly because they exacerbate the buildings’ cooling
load and increase the peak electricity demand (M. Santamouris, 2014). At the same
time, high urban temperatures considerably decrease the cooling potential of nighttime
natural ventilation techniques.
However, the spatial distribution of temperatures is not uniform within the city (Álvarez,
2013; I. D. Stewart & Oke, 2012): higher temperatures occur in the most densely built ar-
eas. In effect, the geometry of densely built areas enhances the UHI effect through three
processes: the solar radiation absorption is increased because of multiple reflections; the
turbulent sensible heat transfer out of the canyon is reduced due to shelter; the long-
wave radiation loss from within the canyon is reduced due to the screening by the flank-
ing buildings (Oke, 1988). The sky is a very important energy sink in the infrared region. The
surrounding urban morphology represents an obstacle to the surfaces’ cooling process,
so in a dense and compact urban texture, higher temperatures normally occur, espe-
cially at night. Hence, the urban form is an important variable in order to assess the mi-
croclimatic and energy performance at urban scale, and it is strictly climate-dependent.
According to Oke, “traditional European urban forms are climatically more favourable
than more modern, especially North American ones” (Oke, 1988). He was referring to con-
tinental climates (latitude about 45°N), where urban density maximizes shelter against cold
winds, enhances urban warmth through heat island effect and allow a good solar access.
In Mediterranean climate, the desirable effects induced by urban morphology are actually
the opposite; natural ventilation should be enhanced and the urban heat island effect miti-
gated. For what concern solar access, the topic is conflicting: On the one hand, high solar
gains allow energy saving for space heating, on the other hand, the problem of the summer
722 overheating is highly concerning at these latitudes. (Morganti, Coch, & Cecere, 2012).
Several studies investigated the relation between urban geometry and UHI intensity
(Cantelli, Monti, & Leuzzi, 2013; Oke, 1988; Res & Unger, 2004; I. D. Stewart & Oke, 2012; I.
Stewart & Oke, 2009; Wong, Jusuf, & Tan, 2011) and the effect of urban morphology on
building energy performance (Morganti et al., 2012; Ratti, Baker, & Steemers, 2005; Rode,
Burdett, Robazza, & Schofield, 2014; Salat, 2009; Zhang et al., 2012). Despite that, results so
far are not adequate to be applied at urban design strategies for Mediterranean context.
The studies on urban morphology and energy performance, in fact, are mainly focused
on solar access, not taking into account the UHI effect; the ones on urban geometry and
UHI intensity only consider the canyons’ SVF (or Height/Width ratio) which is not adequate
by itself to describe the variety of urban forms that characterize Mediterranean cities.

Objectives and Methodology

In order to extend the climatology findings to urban design, a relation shall be established
between the density parameters commonly used in urban planning and the predicted UHI
intensity. This is intended to provide a comparative assessment tool to analyse the perfor-
mance of urban textures and their possible modification. The present study seeks to highlight
the performance of different urban textures with regard to the UHI intensity in Mediterranean
climate. To this purpose, Rome and Barcelona were chosen as survey sites. The two cities are
classified in the map of Köppen-Geiger as Mediterranean climate, with hot and dry summers.
Furthermore, they are located at a very similar latitude, respectively to 41.9° N Rome and
41.4° N Barcelona and have a comparable annual average temperature trend. Based on
Morganti’s previous work (Morganti, 2013), 10 building configurations were identified as case
study in Rome and Barcelona. The chosen urban textures represent a typical range of urban
densities recurrent in the compact city (Morganti, 2013). The scope of the present study is find
the average trend of UHI intensity in different urban textures, which are characterized by a
set of morphology parameters. The study is carried out at the local scale with regards to both
the description of the urban form and the prediction of the average UHI intensities.
city as organism|new visions for urban life
Figure 2. Urban texture’s morphological parameters.

This objective relies on two assumptions: firstly, it is more useful to understand the mi-
croclimatic behaviour of homogeneous urban fabrics than the microclimate of a single
canyon, which can be affected by several random micro-scale variables; secondly, the
723
canyons’ SVF or H/W ratio are not suitable to describe adequately an urban form. In fact,
very different urban textures can have the same H/W street ratio.
The approach of the study is parametric so to compare the microclimatic perfor-
mance of each case study by only focusing on their morphologic characteristics. To this
end, the Urban Weather Generator (UWG) tool was chosen to calculate the urban heat
island effect in each urban texture (Bueno, Norford, Hidalgo, & Pigeon, 2013). The UWG
calculates the average temperature increase in the urban canopy layer through a set
of urban parameters, as input, that describe all the factors involved in the phenomenon,
urban morphology included. The input weather data for the calculation were those of
Rome-Ciampino airport. All the non-morphological parameters were kept constant at
the average urban values, whereas the morphological parameters were changed ac-
cording to the different urban textures. The morphological parameters involved in the
calculation were (Bueno et al., 2013):
- Average Building height (hbld): the average building height in the urban area, nor-
malized on the building footprint
- Site coverage ratio (ρurb): ratio of the building footprint to the site area.
- Façade to site ratio (VHurb): ratio of the vertical surface area (walls) to the urban plan
area.
These parameters describe the most important urban morphology characteristics in-
volved in the urban heat island phenomenon. They are three independent parameters,
which yield quite different values in the 10 case studies. Furthermore, these parameters
are quite common in the urban planning profession and available in geographic infor-
mation systems for several cities, so that they perfectly fit to the objective of this research.
The case studies were Barceloneta, Ensanche, Marbella, Borrel y Soler, Raval and Gracia
in Barcelona and Balduina, Don Bosco, Prati and Centocelle in Roma (figure 1). To the
purpose of investigating the general trend of the UHI intensity in recurrent urban morphol-
ogies, the morphological singularities of each fabric were neglected and the resulting
approximated model refers to the dominant form of each fabric sample. Homogenous
city as organism|new visions for urban life
 Figure 3. a) Monthly average UHI intensity in different urban textures, b) August and January daily
maximum, minimum and average UHI in the different urban textures.

724

digital models were built following a “normalization and replication” approach (Zangh
2011), based on the repetition of the dominant building type in an urban grid structure
similar to that of the real one. On these digital models, the morphological parameters
were calculated (figure 2).
Average urban temperatures in the homogeneous urban textures were calculated
with the UWG tool. The difference between the temperatures calculated with UWG and
those of Rome Ciampino airport is defined as the average UHI intensity for each case
study. Results were compared in order to highlight the difference in the average UHI in-
tensity in each case study and the relationship between the UHI intensities and the urban
morphological parameters.
city as organism|new visions for urban life
Results and discussion

The relevance of urban morphology on the UHI intensity has been confirmed; pre-
dicted temperatures show a significant difference in the monthly average UHI intensity
according to different urban textures, both in winter and summer time. The difference
in the monthly average UHI intensity between the most favourable and unfavourable
urban morphology comes up to 2.6°C in February and 2.0°C in August (figure 1a). Both
in winter and summer, the highest UHI intensity was in the district “Raval”, with an aver-
age temperature increase of +3.5°C in August and +3.1°C in January, with respect to
rural temperatures. Raval was the case study with high value of both the site and façade
coverage ratio (0.8 and 2.98 respectively).
Actually, the site coverage ratio turned to be the crucial parameter to the UHI intensity;
its value (from 0 up to 1) is, in effect, inversely proportional to the street network’s sky view
factor. Therefore, in those urban textures where the building footprint fill the most part of the
space, the cooling potential at night is significantly reduced and the UHI intensity is steadily
high during the year. The temperature gap between the Raval and less dense urban fabrics
was particularly evident in the winter. Probably it happens because in the cold season the
most important source of urban heat is the anthropogenic one due to buildings’ HVAC sys-
tems, rather than the solar radiation absorption; so the denser the building texture is, the less
this heat disperses back to the sky. Conversely, in the summer, the solar radiation absorption
becomes more relevant. The most unfavourable urban textures, with respect to UHI intensity
in summer, were in effect “Raval” and “Barceloneta”, with highest values of façade to site
ratio (2.98 and 3.26, respectively). In Raval the average daily maximum UHI intensity in August
was 6.8°C and in Barceloneta 7.3°C (figure1b). Urban areas with high value of façade to site
ratio are dense urban structures, composed of a building type that maximizes the building
envelope exposed to the outside environment, compared to their volume. These building
types optimize the solar radiation absorption at the facades. In summer, thus, this may lead
to higher air temperature especially at night, because the surface cooling process is longer 725
with respect to a more compact urban fabric. Another case study with strong UHI intensity
during summer months was the district “Don Bosco” in Rome. In this texture, in August, the
average UHI intensity was 3°C, with a daily maximum intensity of 7.3°C. Don Bosco presented
quite higher summer temperatures compared to Balduina and Prati, which have similar val-
ues of site coverage ratio and façade to site ratio. Don Bosco is the case study with greater
average building height; it means that the surfaces’ sky view factors are on average lower
compared to other textures with the same values for the two remaining parameters. Conse-
quently, high values of building height worsen the effect of the other two parameters, which
mostly govern the phenomenon intensity. Finally, it is evident the gap between Borrell y Sol-
er’s temperatures and all the other case study; Borrel y Soler was, in effect, a scattered low
density urban texture, with the lowest values of both coverage ratio and façade to site ratio.
Figure 3b compares the daily maximum, minimum and average UHI intensities in Au-
gust and January for each urban texture. The microclimatic performances of the different
urban textures were generally variable during the year, with the exception of few cases
that preserved a similar UHI intensity in both the summer and winter. The highest Janu-
ary temperatures occurred in the fabrics with higher value of coverage site ratio (ρurb),
as Raval (+3.68°C), Gracia (+2.38°C), Barceloneta (+2.25°C) and Ensanche (+2.21°C),
which had a ρurb value of 0.8, 0.64, 0.52 and 0.62, respectively. In August, instead, high
UHI intensities occurred even in less dense urban textures. Two cases stand out, Barcelo-
neta and Don Bosco, due to the very high UHI intensity in summer compared to winter
one. They were the case study with the highest “facade to site ratio” among the others
(Barceloneta, VHurb=3.26) and highest “building average height” (Don Bosco, Hbld=25.5).
From the same diagram, we can deduce the UHI range in the different urban fabrics in
Mediterranean climate. The monthly average UHI intensity varies from +3.5°C in summer in
the Raval to +1°C in February in Borrel y Soler, and the maximum daily UHI intensity varies
from +7.3°C both in Barceloneta and Don Bosco in summer to +3,5°C in winter in Borrel y
Soler; the maximum daily UHI intensity always occurred during the night. The values are
in line with the previous works on UHI in Mediterranean context (Mat Santamouris, 2007).
city as organism|new visions for urban life
 Figure 4 finally illustrates the relationship between the two main morphological param-
eters and the heat island intensity, in order to provide an interpretation tool of the micro-
climatic behavior of different urban textures in Mediterranean city. The relation between
“Average building height” and UHI is not presented, as it resulted to be not significant.
The average height hence can be considered a subsidiary parameter with respect to
the “site coverage ratio” and “façade to site ratio”. In effect, the morphological param-
eters result to have a different significance with respect to the UHI intensity. Whilst the “site
coverage ratio” rules the general trend, the other two parameters mostly contribute to
the accuracy of the prediction.
In figure 4a, two hypothetical urban textures represent a morphological interpretation
of the relevance of the “site coverage ratio” parameter: as ρurb increases so does the
building’s footprint, keeping constant the other two parameters. Therefore, the texture
becomes much denser and the surfaces’ sky view factor rapidly decreases. Thus, it is
readily noticeable that an increase in this parameter entails a corresponding one in UHI
intensity, over all the seasons. This is particularly evident in the winter and the annual
average trends (Fig 4 a), in which the relationships between “site coverage ratio” and
UHI intensity are linear and quite accurate (r2= 0,88 in the annual average and r2= 0,86 in
winter average). The summer trend is less clear and the relation between “site coverage
ratio” and summer UHI intensity less accurate (r2= 0,57). In the summer microclimatic per-
formance, a second parameter gains more importance, the “façade to site ratio”, even
if the “site coverage ratio” preserves its role. In figure 4b, two hypothetical urban fabrics
are drawn with the same” building average height” and “site coverage ratio”, but differ-
ent “façade to site ratio”(VHurb=1 for the left one and VHurb=2 for the right one). The one
with greater VHurb value presents a denser street network and a larger amount of vertical
surfaces exposed to solar radiation; it results in a worse microclimatic performance in
summer with respect to UHI intensity. Figure 4b shows that the trend between summer UHI
intensity and “façade to site ratio” is quite reliable (r2= 0,72).
726 To understand these conclusions, it is better to analyse a case study. As an example,
the results are given for two urban fabrics that had similar value for the “site coverage ra-
tio”, close to 0,5: Barceloneta (A) and Prati (I). Conversely, they were quite different for the
value of VHurb, respectively 3.26 Barceloneta and 1.43 Prati. Barceloneta is a urban texture
composed of tight slab housing, arranged in a very dense road network, which presents
a” facade to site ratio” much higher than the compact court building type of Prati. As a
result, in the chart which correlates the average UHI intensity to the “site coverage ratio”,
Barceloneta had an heat island intensity higher than Prati, as particularly evident in the
summer trend. Higher summer temperatures occurred in Barceloneta because it had a
greater value of “façade to site ratio”, with the same “site coverage ratio” value than
Prati. A similar interpretation is valid for Don Bosco (H) with respect to Balduina (G) or Mar
Bella (C); these case study had a very similar “facade to site ratio” value, but Don Bosco
showed, in the summer, higher heat island intensity than the average. The deviation of
Don Bosco’s “average building height” from the mean resulted, in fact, to be the greatest
and this accounts for the worsened microclimatic performance of the fabric.

Conclusions

Results showed that air temperature substantially varies with different urban morpholo-
gies. The monthly average heat island intensity in Mediterranean climate ranged, in the
summer, between +3.5°C in the densest urban texture and +1°C in February in the less
dense. The average daily maximum intensity was in the range within +7.3°C in the sum-
mer to +3.5°C in the winter, always during the night. The results are in agreement with
previous works. Many relations have been found between the morphological param-
eters and the heat island intensity, in order to provide an interpretation tool of the micro-
climatic behavior of different fabrics, in Mediterranean city. The set of simulations have
confirmed the relevance of the morphological features in the formation of local urban
microclimate, but with a hierarchy between the three morphological parameters.
In effect, the three morphological parameters result to have a different significance
city as organism|new visions for urban life
Figure 4. a) Average UHI intensity (annual, summer, winter) in relation to texture’s “site coverage ra-
tio” b) Average UHI intensity (annual, summer, winter) in relation to texture’s “façade to site ratio”.

727

with respect to the UHI intensity. Whilst the “site coverage ratio” rules the annual trend,
the other two parameters mostly contribute to the accuracy of the prediction for the
summer heat island intensity.
The performances of the different urban textures were thus variable during the year,
except from few cases, among which there was Raval, where in both the winter and the
summer, the highest average temperatures occurred. Raval was effectively the case with
highest “site coverage ratio”, the most important parameters with regard to the urban heat
island intensity throughout the year. When the buildings’ footprint increases, the surfaces’
sky-view factor rapidly decreases and, consequently, the cooling process slows down. The
relevance of the “façade to site ratio” parameter in the summer was clear in Barceloneta
case study, in which high summer temperatures occurred (+3.28°C) even if the value of
site coverage ratio was close to the average. These kind of fabrics have a dense street
network and a large amount of vertical surfaces exposed to solar radiation; summer solar
absorption is thus optimized and therefore surfaces’ overheating enhanced which results in
higher urban heat island intensity. A similar conclusion can be drawn from the Don Bosco
case study and the role of the “building average height” value. In the light of these results,
it can be said that an increase in both “façade to site ratio” and “average building height”
worsens the average UHI effect, which is mostly ruled by the “site coverage ratio”.
More simulations and sensitivity analysis should be carried out to validate the predic-
tion of the relationships between morphology parameters and the urban heat island
intensity. Nevertheless, results so far demonstrate that the interpretation of urban mor-
phology can be a useful tool to tackle the energy issue at urban scale. The knowledge of
the microclimatic behavior of the different urban fabrics within the city, and their energy
city as organism|new visions for urban life
 implications, allows determining the location of the most convenient mitigation strate-
gies, so to gain advantages at urban scale. Future implementations should delve into
the relationship between morphology, microclimate and energy performance at urban
scale, in order to develop design tools that can steer energy and retrofitting policies to-
wards more energy-sustainable cities.

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