Climate Change – Thermal Comfort In Public Spaces
Mitigation and Adaptation to Climate Change will be main drivers for new urban policies in the coming decades: Nature Based Solutions, Heat Stress Reduction, Flood Management, Zero Carbon Policies or Health Measures. Urban Design must be thought more than ever as a process of evolutions, constant changes. We cannot design a space thinking that it is finished once it is built. The external conditions will change rapidly in time, so urban space must be designed to have the capacity to adapt quickly.
Heat stress mapping is essential
to re-design urban space.
Wind – Key Factor For Thermal Comfort
Heat Stress is one of the consequences of Climate Change on the human comfort. It is mainly defined and influenced by Radiant Temperature, Humidity and Wind. Therefore, understanding the impact of wind on urban configurations is key to control the levels of comfort in the city. We have enough knowledge and software at our disposal to design in function of fluids. Depending on the local climate conditions, wind can be a relief or an extra charge on the livability of the city.
Wind flow simulations show us possible conflict situations of urban comfort.
Biodiversity – Nature Based Solutions To Mitigate Climate Change
Complexity is a basic characteristic of sustainable developments. It is a question of creating a network of relations between many species and structures. Biodiversity is an indicator of the richness and complexity of species. Being dependent of the other to be able to grow is a positive value not a restriction. Urban tissues are the most artificial inventions of mankind, tremendously complex, but with a huge lack of connection with nature. Urban biodiversity requires green networks, small and big green areas and the possibility that nature grows on its own, not always directed by human rules.
Urban Nature Based Solutions require a high diversity of species to assure biodiversity in the city.
Water – The Management Of A Scarce Good
Water is one of the most difficult materials to have under control. It is basic for life, but it can be a very destructive medium: floods, diseases or scarcity. Considering that cities concentrate more and more people on earth and that they are rather impermeable places, water management is a determining aspect when we define urban models or design landscapes. We have been designing cities with an obsession to have water flows under control, but maybe we should design the city to give water a free ride when it is necessary.
Water management is key in urban design to avoid problems on the building scale.
