The role of urban vegetation as a Climate Sensitive Urban Design (CSUD) tool

A combination of excessive heating by urban development, low water availability and future climate change could compromise human health and livable urban environments. One of way forward in this respect is Climate Sensitive Urban Design (CSUD), which tends towards thermally comfortable and more sustainable urban environments by enhancing positive natural and man-made features through architecture, planning and landscape design. Urban vegetation is commonly suggested as a key tool for CSUD, both in terms of climate change mitigation and adaptation. In order to quantify the intensity of cooling and improvements to human thermal comfort of CSUD, we need to understand the behavior of vegetation and its interactions within the built-up environment. This research proposal aims to improve our understanding of the role of vegetation as a CSUD tool, including Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD), the role of urban form and climate change. To address these research objectives, multiple parameterizations in a state-of-the-art urban climate model will be improved and analyzed for various urban morphologies in different climates (Singapore, Melbourne and Basel). This is an important step forward towards a more integrated approach of urban modelling and more particularly for the evaluation of urban-planning programmes focusing on mitigation/adaptation strategies and thermal comfort of inhabitants.

Keywords:Urban Climate modelling, Mitigation and adaptation strategies, Climate Sensitive Urban Design, Water Sensitive Urban Design

Disciplines:Astronomy and space sciences, Condensed matter physics and nanophysics