Baradaran Motie, Mohammadreza Baradaran

Baradaran Motie M., Bemanian M., Yeganeh M.

Following the Industrial Revolution and the rise of automobiles in cities, the shape and geometry of cities underwent significant changes, which affected urban morphology. This unsustainable development disrupted the balance between built and natural environments, leading to many problems for cities and their citizens over time. Environmental problems are the most significant. Damage to green infrastructure, natural ecosystems, water and air pollution, and extreme heat are just a few examples. Numerous Nature-based solutions have been proposed to achieve these goals. One primary strategy is the development of urban green spaces, which serve as a platform for restoring balance to cities and reducing environmental harm. Recent studies show that simply adding green spaces to cities is not enough. Their design and placement need to be carefully considered to maximize their benefits. Not considering these properties in the design and development of microclimates not only does not improve urban resilience but can also exacerbate these harms. Therefore, this chapter focuses on understanding the behavior of urban green spaces and their influential properties on urban microclimates. These influential properties include planting design and layout, tree proportions and geometric form, density and permeability, and other physiological characteristics.

Mobarhan M., Yeganeh M., Motie M.B., Ahmadi S.

Sharbafian M., Yeganeh M., Baradaran Motie M.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the building's green façade on regulating the indicators of daylight, visual comfort, heating and cooling load, and its features (such as the density of greenery and distance from the main facade). The effects of simulating 30 distinct green facade designs for various building fronts were examined. The findings reveal that altering the green facade's distance (between 0 and 50 cm) had no discernible impact on the variables. The values of DA, UDImax, and cooling load have lowered by increasing density from 20 % to 100 %. The heating burden has grown, though. Higher densities of the green facade between different distances show a greater difference in the values of the tested variables than lower densities. For instance, at 100 % density, the UDImax value rose from the highest to lowest distance (0.50 cm) by 59.6 %, but at 20 % density, this shift was only 2.9 %

Baradaran Motie M., Yeganeh M., Bemanian M.

The effect of green space in improving the air quality and thermal comfort of urban canyons has been investigated in many pieces of research. However, most were limited regarding the date, the experiment's duration, or the phenomenon under investigation. This study investigates different greenery patterns(type and position) in urban canyons and their effects on air pollution and thermal comfort to find optimal overall patterns.The effect of patterns in seasons, different urban canyons ratios, and greenery's aesthetical, cultural, and social aspects was considered. Numerical simulations and wind flow modeling were performed in the ENVI-met software. The results show that coniferous trees on sidewalks have the weakest, and Deciduous trees in the median strip alone can have the most favorable effect on improving air quality and thermal comfort in different seasons. Moving deciduous trees from the sidewalks to the median strip has reduced air pollution by 67% in summer and 54% in winter at the pedestrian level.

Ahmadi S., Yeganeh M., Motie M.B., Gilandoust A.

The unilateral development of built environments in cities leads to imbalances in climatic conditions and micro-climates, followed by indicators such as thermal comfort. Researchers identified the effect of urban morphology’s geometry, shape, orientation, and mass-space combination on climate change. Also, the influential role of urban greenspaces in enhancing thermal comfort has been studied. Some results show that strengthening urban greenspaces, regardless of the orientation and proportions of the surrounding space, in some cases can prevent the proper circulation of airflow and adverse effects on thermal comfort. In this research, 10 models of neighborhoods in Tehran (the capital of Iran) were studied based on numerical calculation methods and CFD simulations. These simulations are performed by ENVI-met software, which is well-known software in this field. This study investigates which pattern and geometry in the composition of these spaces, with a constant fraction of the building, green spots, and water and paths, could better enhance thermal comfort. The results show that patterns with non-linear structure and a mass of porous spaces in which green spots are scattered have the best results in enhancing thermal comfort.

Muñoz-Salcedo M., Saquinaula-Brito J.L., Ortíz-Mata J., Peci-López F.

Tahmasbi F., Khdair A.I., Aburumman G.A., Tahmasebi M., Thi N.H., Afrand M.

Halder N., Kumar M., Deepak A., Mandal S.K., Azmeer A., Mir B.A., Nurdiawati A., Al-Ghamdi S.G.

As cities grapple with rising temperatures, the integration of urban greenery has gained recognition as a viable solution to mitigate these effects and enhance outdoor thermal conditions. This paper identifies widely used and emerging numerical models, highlights research gaps, and addresses key insights from the selected literature. Grounded in a PRISMA-based review, it offers insights to optimize strategies for mitigating urban heat islands and enhancing livability. The study explores synergies and trade-offs between green infrastructure and the built environment, aiming to provide insights into optimizing these elements for sustainable urban development. In this research, a mixed-methods approach was adopted by combining a systematic review and a bibliometric review using the PRISMA 2020 and VOSviewer 1.6.19 of 48 relevant studies. The PRISMA process led to the selection of the papers used for both the qualitative synthesis and bibliometric analysis. The results indicate a significant increase in research output in the last decades with a marked focus on green roofs, urban parks, and vertical greening systems. Our findings provide an elaborate conceptual framework that maps the interrelation between the research topics. Also, the study highlights existing research gaps in numerical modeling software for evaluating the cooling potential of urban greenery and its impact on thermal comfort across diverse urban contexts. The study recommends developing standardized frameworks and metrics for evaluating thermal comfort in urban areas, as well as suggesting that advancing numerical modeling software is essential to accurately simulate the complex interactions between urban greenery, microclimates, and urban forms.

Jain D., Bhatnagar S., Rathi V., Sachdeva K., Tewani A., Sharma G.

Chen Y., Li D., He D., Liu Y., Taib N., Heng Yii Sern C.

Heydari T., Yeganeh M., Pourmahabadian E.

Various research has been conducted to enhance thermal comfort as a disturbed indicator in the unbalanced development of built environments. Some researchers have focused on the form and geometry of urban blocks as influential factors. Also, some have studied the effect of greenery in urban walls on improving thermal comfort. By defining six categories and 22 subgroups of the geometry of urban blocks in Tehran, this research is focused on identifying the effect of green walls on urban blocks in Tehran and the effect on thermal comfort in summer. Different geometries were changed based on changes in the direction of wind corridors, the height of blocks, and shading. The simulation of scenarios to conduct studies has been done in ENVI-met software. The results showed that changing the building typology (even by applying green walls) was insufficient to provide outdoor thermal comfort in Tehran; however, the separate cubes scenario provided better outdoor thermal conditions. The results of this study highlighted the importance of solar shading for outdoor spaces, as well as considering adaptive opportunities in site design for landscape architects and site designers.

Issakhov A., Abylkassymova A.

Al-Hajri S., Al-Ramadan B., Shafiullah M., Rahman S.M.

Urban heat islands (UHIs) pose a growing challenge in rapidly urbanizing areas, necessitating effective mitigation strategies to enhance environmental sustainability and human well-being. This study examined the role of vegetation in regulating urban microclimates, focusing on its ability to mitigate the effects of UHIs, promote thermal comfort, and enhance urban esthetics. The study drew on existing research that employed spatial analysis and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to explore the relationship between vegetation metrics and reductions in surface temperature. Municipal initiatives in Khobar, Saudi Arabia, including tree-planting programs and street humanization projects, aimed to improve urban esthetics and pedestrian experiences. Although these efforts enhanced urban livability, they lacked a comprehensive ecological perspective, emphasizing the need for strategies that integrate thermal comfort, environmental resilience, and broader sustainability goals. The analysis demonstrated the societal and environmental benefits of tree-planting activities and linked urban vegetation plans to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The results highlighted the importance of incorporating green infrastructure in urban development to mitigate the effects of UHIs, improve air quality, and enhance overall urban livability. This paper proposed a framework for sustainable urban design, offering practical insights for policymakers and urban planners working to create resilient, environmentally conscious communities in extreme climates.

Zhang T., Fu X., Qi F., Shen Y., Xu P., Tao Y., Liu T., Song Y.

Zhou X., Deng S., Cui Y., Fan C.

Albatayneh A., Albadaineh R., Juaidi A., Abdallah R.

Mansouri S.T., Zarghami E.

Improper development of land uses in the city leads to climate changes, resulting in an increase in GW and the formation of UHIs. These changes have adverse effects on people's level of comfort. This research is supposed to extract the optimal model by proving the relationship between the physical arrangement of the architecture of high-rise buildings in residential complexes and reducing the adverse effects of this. Therefore, in this research, four models of solitary, environmental, combined, and rowly block arrangement were investigated based on numerical calculation methods and CFD simulation. These simulations were done by ENVI-meto software based on air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, and thermal comfort in the open space. The results showed that the type of physical arrangement of buildings can increase air temperature for GW by up to 3 o C and UHIs by 0.5 o C. The combined pattern is the most optimal in this section due to its more compact structure than the solitary pattern. Regarding the effect of relative humidity on climate changes, the solitary pattern has the lowest percentage of relative humidity compared to other patterns due to more air circulation in its physical structure. Also, the type of physical arrangement of buildings can improve the wind speed for GW by up to 0.2 m/s and for UHIs up to 0.7 m/s. Based on this, the most optimal model is the environmental pattern, because the physical structures of the buildings are an obstacle in wind circulation. The fluctuation range of the PMV index for the intensity of GW effects on thermal comfort, is 0.7 degrees, and the fluctuation range of this index for the power of UHIs is about 0.2 degrees. The solitary pattern is the most optimal pattern to reduce the severity of adverse effects of GW and UHIs; this is due to the scattered distribution of blocks in this pattern. In general, according to the research findings, it can be concluded that the most optimal pattern to reduce the severity of the adverse effects of GW is solitary and environmental patterns, and to reduce the severity of the negative impact of UHIs, the solitary pattern is used.

Baradaran Motie M., Bemanian M., Yeganeh M.

Following the Industrial Revolution and the rise of automobiles in cities, the shape and geometry of cities underwent significant changes, which affected urban morphology. This unsustainable development disrupted the balance between built and natural environments, leading to many problems for cities and their citizens over time. Environmental problems are the most significant. Damage to green infrastructure, natural ecosystems, water and air pollution, and extreme heat are just a few examples. Numerous Nature-based solutions have been proposed to achieve these goals. One primary strategy is the development of urban green spaces, which serve as a platform for restoring balance to cities and reducing environmental harm. Recent studies show that simply adding green spaces to cities is not enough. Their design and placement need to be carefully considered to maximize their benefits. Not considering these properties in the design and development of microclimates not only does not improve urban resilience but can also exacerbate these harms. Therefore, this chapter focuses on understanding the behavior of urban green spaces and their influential properties on urban microclimates. These influential properties include planting design and layout, tree proportions and geometric form, density and permeability, and other physiological characteristics.

Issakhov A., Abylkassymova A.

Mobarhan M., Yeganeh M., Motie M.B., Ahmadi S.

Sharbafian M., Yeganeh M., Baradaran Motie M.

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the building's green façade on regulating the indicators of daylight, visual comfort, heating and cooling load, and its features (such as the density of greenery and distance from the main facade). The effects of simulating 30 distinct green facade designs for various building fronts were examined. The findings reveal that altering the green facade's distance (between 0 and 50 cm) had no discernible impact on the variables. The values of DA, UDImax, and cooling load have lowered by increasing density from 20 % to 100 %. The heating burden has grown, though. Higher densities of the green facade between different distances show a greater difference in the values of the tested variables than lower densities. For instance, at 100 % density, the UDImax value rose from the highest to lowest distance (0.50 cm) by 59.6 %, but at 20 % density, this shift was only 2.9 %

Ettinger A.K., Bratman G.N., Carey M., Hebert R., Hill O., Kett H., Levin P., Murphy-Williams M., Wyse L.

AbstractClimate change is exacerbating the need for urban greening and the associated environmental and human well-being benefits. Trees can help mitigate urban heat, but more detailed understanding of cooling effects of green infrastructure are needed to guide management decisions and deploy trees as effective and equitable climate adaptation infrastructure. We investigated how urban trees affect summer air temperature along sidewalks within a neighborhood of Tacoma, Washington, USA, and to what extent urban trees reduce risks of high summer temperatures (i.e., the levels regulated by state outdoor heat exposure rules intended to reduce heat-related illnesses). Air temperature varied by 2.57 °C, on average, across our study area, and the probability of daytime temperatures exceeding regulated high temperature thresholds was up to five times greater in locations with no canopy cover within 10 m compared to those with 100% cover. Air temperatures decreased linearly with increasing cover within 10 m, suggesting that every unit of added tree cover can help cool the air. Our findings highlight the value of trees in mitigating urban heat, especially given expected warming with climate change. Protecting existing urban trees and increasing tree cover (e.g., by planting street trees), are important actions to enhance climate change resilience of urban areas.

Wang X., Zhou Z., Xiang Y., Peng C., Peng C.

Numerous empirical studies have demonstrated that street trees not only reduce dust pollution and absorb particulate matter (PM) but also improve microclimates, providing both ecological functions and aesthetic value. However, recent research has revealed that street tree canopy cover can impede the dispersion of atmospheric PM within street canyons, leading to the accumulation of street pollutants. Although many studies have investigated the impact of street trees on air pollutant dispersion within street canyons, the extent of their influence remains unclear and uncertain. Pollutant accumulation corresponds to the specific characteristics of individual street canyons, coupled with meteorological factors and pollution source strength. Notably, the characteristics of street tree canopy cover also exert a significant influence. There is still a quantitative research gap on street tree cover impacts with respect to pollution and dust reduction control measures within street spaces. To improve urban traffic environments, policymakers have mainly focused on scientifically based street vegetation deployment initiatives in building ecological garden cities and improving the living environment. To address uncertainties regarding the influence of street trees on the dispersion of atmospheric PM in urban streets, this study reviews dispersion mechanisms and key atmospheric PM factors in urban streets, summarizes the research approaches used to conceptualize atmospheric PM dispersion in urban street canyons, and examines urban plant efficiency in reducing atmospheric PM. Furthermore, we also address current challenges and future directions in this field to provide a more comprehensive understanding of atmospheric PM dispersion in urban streets and the role that street trees play in mitigating air pollution.

Lelieveld J., Haines A., Burnett R., Tonne C., Klingmüller K., Münzel T., Pozzer A.

Abstract Objectives To estimate all cause and cause specific deaths that are attributable to fossil fuel related air pollution and to assess potential health benefits from policies that replace fossil fuels with clean, renewable energy sources. Design Observational and modelling study. Methods An updated atmospheric composition model, a newly developed relative risk model, and satellite based data were used to determine exposure to ambient air pollution, estimate all cause and disease specific mortality, and attribute them to emission categories. Data sources Data from the global burden of disease 2019 study, observational fine particulate matter and population data from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) satellites, and atmospheric chemistry, aerosol, and relative risk modelling for 2019. Results Globally, all cause excess deaths due to fine particulate and ozone air pollution are estimated at 8.34 million (95% confidence interval 5.63 to 11.19) deaths per year. Most (52%) of the mortality burden is related to cardiometabolic conditions, particularly ischaemic heart disease (30%). Stroke and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease both account for 16% of mortality burden. About 20% of all cause mortality is undefined, with arterial hypertension and neurodegenerative diseases possibly implicated. An estimated 5.13 million (3.63 to 6.32) excess deaths per year globally are attributable to ambient air pollution from fossil fuel use and therefore could potentially be avoided by phasing out fossil fuels. This figure corresponds to 82% of the maximum number of air pollution deaths that could be averted by controlling all anthropogenic emissions. Smaller reductions, rather than a complete phase-out, indicate that the responses are not strongly non-linear. Reductions in emission related to fossil fuels at all levels of air pollution can decrease the number of attributable deaths substantially. Estimates of avoidable excess deaths are markedly higher in this study than most previous studies for these reasons: the new relative risk model has implications for high income (largely fossil fuel intensive) countries and for low and middle income countries where the use of fossil fuels is increasing; this study accounts for all cause mortality in addition to disease specific mortality; and the large reduction in air pollution from a fossil fuel phase-out can greatly reduce exposure. Conclusions Phasing out fossil fuels is deemed to be an effective intervention to improve health and save lives as part the United Nations' goal of climate neutrality by 2050. Ambient air pollution would no longer be a leading, environmental health risk factor if the use of fossil fuels were superseded by equitable access to clean sources of renewable energy.

Gao G., Qi J., Lin S., Hu R., Huang H.

Plant area density (PAD) of individual trees is an important structural indicator related to tree growth status, stress levels due to pests and diseases, photosynthesis potential, and evapotranspiration. Airborne laser scanning (ALS) provides unprecedented 3D information for mapping forest canopy parameters. Previous studies mainly focused on mapping stand-level and 2D leaf area index. This study proposes a method to estimate PAD from discrete and multiple return ALS data at individual tree scales. The proposed method uses path length distribution to eliminate crown-shape-induced clumping, as well as intensity information to estimate crown transmittance from relative low-density points. The path length distribution is derived from the 3D crown boundary contours created by an alpha shape algorithm, which explicitly considers the non-uniform LiDAR pulse penetration distances. Pulse intensity is calibrated with the nearest pure-ground pulse to mitigate the need for prior leaf and ground reflectance information, which can be used in areas with a heterogeneous background. The proposed method was evaluated both in virtual experiments as well as with terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data. The virtual experiments used the large-scale remote sensing data and image simulation model (LESS) to simulate virtual ALS scanning data based on abstract and realistic canopies. Results showed that the ALS-derived PAD is highly accurate, with RMSE less than 0.02 and R2 > 0.99 for the abstract sphere and cube crowns, and RMSE = 0.19 and R2 = 0.578 for the realistic crowns. The comparison with TLS of a birch plot shows that the ALS-derived PAD is consistent with those derived from TLS, with RMSE = 0.14 and R2 = 0.46. This study demonstrated that using the full intensity and geometry information of a point cloud is capable of generating high-resolution forest parameters from ALS data.

Chiang Y., Liu H., Li D., Ho L.

The urban heat island effect has gained attention worldwide. Built environment characteristics such as sky view factor (SVF) and green view index (GVI) can affect urban thermal environments and pedestrians’ thermal comfort. With recent technological advances, Google Street View (GSV) can be used to rapidly obtain panoramic street-view images with high reliability, enabling convenient and low-cost environmental assessment of urban settings. In addition, deep learning technology for quantifying the characteristics of urban environments has advanced considerably. This study sought to (1) determine the consistency between deep learning and manual classification of urban environment characteristics and (2) investigate the effects of street-level SVF and GVI on thermal comfort, especially the differences in their effects during hot and cool seasons. The study was conducted in the West District of Taichung City, and GSV was used to capture images from which SVF and GVI were calculated. A total of 50 sample locations were selected for an onsite questionnaire and thermal comfort was measured to determine the effects of SVF and GVI. The results indicated deep learning and manual classifications of SVF and GVI to be highly correlated. With regard to effects, SVF had a significant positive effect on physiological equivalent temperature and thermal sensation votes. GVI also had a significant positive effect on physiological equivalent temperature, but no effect on thermal sensation votes. Thus, reducing SVF and implementing greening projects may improve thermal comfort of pedestrians on the streets. These results offer implications for future urban planning and large-scale urban thermal environment assessments.

Li Z., Zhang H., Juan Y., Lee Y., Wen C., Yang A.

Planting trees is considered to relieve the thermal load. However, trees may "pollute" the air quality. Tree net effects should receive more attention, but only a few studies have simultaneously addressed thermal comfort and air quality. By computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations, we created an evaluation model of trees and investigated the overall effects of tree planting inside street canyons. We considered the following four parameters by comparing seven common tree species in Hong Kong (subtropical climate): three tree morphological indicators (leaf area index (LAI), tree height (Htree), and crown spread (Scrown)) and tree planting density (Ptree). The results demonstrated that under a high ambient wind speed, higher trees with a lower near-ground leaf area density are better options, which more greatly reduces the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) by up to 1.1 K but causes the least pollutant accumulation. Bigger-crown trees on the windward side are advocated, while smaller ones are suitable for the leeward side. In such a way, there was at least a 0.7 K decrease in PET on the tree-planted side while maintaining better air quality. Thermal comfort can be improved by increasing LAI or Ptree, but a higher LAI or Ptree causes a greater accumulation of pollutants. Increasing Ptree can cause a 1.1 K reduction in PET, while the effect of changing LAI is relatively limited. When the length of a street is reduced, varying tree factors have a comparable effect. As canyon depth increases, the effect of trees is limited.

Sarmadi H., Mahdavinejad M.

Providing daylighting and glare control in office buildings has always been one of the challenges for designers. This research investigates patterns for designing façades with optimal performance to provide daylight glare control, the possibility of natural ventilation, and control energy transfer from the façade. Accordingly, one of the proposed modeling methods is using glass in a part of the façade for optimal visibility and the possibility of natural ventilation. This study has simulated and analyzed three curtain wall categories: all-algae, all-glass, and combined glass and microalgae. Moreover, ordinary double-glazed and single-glazed windows are not used properly. Combined façades with 50% − 60% microalgae concentration, electrochromic LoE glass, and spectrally selective LoE tint glasses provide the most optimal patterns for designing curtain wall façades with microalgae of office buildings. Compared to the basic pattern (single glazed glass), the mentioned optimal patterns have reduced ASE by 28% and sDA by 50%.

Baradaran Motie M., Yeganeh M., Bemanian M.

The effect of green space in improving the air quality and thermal comfort of urban canyons has been investigated in many pieces of research. However, most were limited regarding the date, the experiment's duration, or the phenomenon under investigation. This study investigates different greenery patterns(type and position) in urban canyons and their effects on air pollution and thermal comfort to find optimal overall patterns.The effect of patterns in seasons, different urban canyons ratios, and greenery's aesthetical, cultural, and social aspects was considered. Numerical simulations and wind flow modeling were performed in the ENVI-met software. The results show that coniferous trees on sidewalks have the weakest, and Deciduous trees in the median strip alone can have the most favorable effect on improving air quality and thermal comfort in different seasons. Moving deciduous trees from the sidewalks to the median strip has reduced air pollution by 67% in summer and 54% in winter at the pedestrian level.

Zhu S., Causone F., Gao N., Ye Y., Jin X., Zhou X., Shi X.

In order to address the increased urban heat island (UHI) effects and energy demand caused by global urbanization, it is imperative to seek sustainable urban design solutions. It is widely acknowledged that urban green infrastructure (UGI), which includes site-scale vegetation and building-integrated vegetation, influences the energy consumption of urban buildings. In the planning and design phases of UGI, numerical simulations are essential tools for evaluating and optimizing design strategies. However, the methodology for the simulation at various scales is still unclear, necessitating a comprehensive review of relevant studies. This review examined the research conducted on UGI modeling in numerical simulations of building energy consumption over the past 35 years and outlined the general workflow of these simulations. The numerical methods and tools for each step, as well as the coupling and validation methods for these tools, were described in detail. Thus, this study equips researchers with the knowledge necessary to analyze the impact of UGI on the energy consumption of buildings using numerical simulations. According to the review, existing building energy model (BEM) tools have not yet integrated modeling of site-scale vegetation for microclimate and shading. Future collaboration between urban climatologists and building physicists should be encouraged to improve the integration of climate and UGI shading simulations with BEM in order to simplify the use of numerical simulation tools.

Ahmadi S., Yeganeh M., Motie M.B., Gilandoust A.

The unilateral development of built environments in cities leads to imbalances in climatic conditions and micro-climates, followed by indicators such as thermal comfort. Researchers identified the effect of urban morphology’s geometry, shape, orientation, and mass-space combination on climate change. Also, the influential role of urban greenspaces in enhancing thermal comfort has been studied. Some results show that strengthening urban greenspaces, regardless of the orientation and proportions of the surrounding space, in some cases can prevent the proper circulation of airflow and adverse effects on thermal comfort. In this research, 10 models of neighborhoods in Tehran (the capital of Iran) were studied based on numerical calculation methods and CFD simulations. These simulations are performed by ENVI-met software, which is well-known software in this field. This study investigates which pattern and geometry in the composition of these spaces, with a constant fraction of the building, green spots, and water and paths, could better enhance thermal comfort. The results show that patterns with non-linear structure and a mass of porous spaces in which green spots are scattered have the best results in enhancing thermal comfort.

Goharian A., Daneshjoo K., Yeganeh M.

Urban congestion and the multiplicity of floors of buildings within densely populated cities have significantly reduced natural light penetration into spaces, especially in deep-plan buildings. One way to bring daylight into the spaces in deep-plan buildings is to prepare light-well to bring natural light to window-less spaces. The more light penetration into the bottom of the well depends on two main factors; reflection coefficient and configuration geometry, which this paper is focused on geometry specifically. Geometry can provide better performance as a reflector if it corresponds to the direction of the sun’s rays and sun path. In this study, using Ladybug plugin capabilities in Grasshopper parametric environment and in-depth study of the sky matrix, timelines are set to determine the main optimization indicators. This paper’s main purpose is to scrutinize the light-well configuration through a hierarchy of troubleshooting and finding advantages to prepare an optimization solution of adaptation of configuration with direct sun beams. For the optimization solution, by studying five latitudes that can cover low, medium and high-latitudes, a method has been developed that standardizes this solution as a comprehensive method. In other words, standardization of a methodology as an optimization solution for all latitudes. In order to implement and validate the methodology, a latitude is considered the basic-location (Tehran). Sun facing-wall on the well’s aperture in the role of a reflective device, with an angle of 65° and the other walls, are optimized with an angle of 70° in order to no shading (basic-location). The improved-model by the optimization methodology shows an improvement of the lower floors in DA’300, DA’150 and UDI’100

Zare Z., Yeganeh M., Dehghan N.

The purpose of this paper is to present an innovative method for measuring and evaluating 3D visibility indicators to design sustainable urban plazas. Sustainable urban plazas are studied in five physical, social, semantic, spatial, and ecological dimensions. Based on the literature review, automated 3D geometrical evaluation calculated by five normalized properties taken from a 3D space of Plaza included: Isovist, Smallness, Compactness, Enclosure, and Regularity. Human subjective evaluations are tested in 20 worldwide plazas. The research was conducted through survey methods and MATLAB software analysis, image processing, algorithm finding, machine learning, and inferential statics. Accordingly, the question was answered: how does the citizens’ mental evaluation change based on the squares’ three-dimensional characteristics? Findings show a significant relationship between people’s evaluation of the plazas and the three-dimensional geometric evaluations. The research results showed that three-dimensional geometric evaluations are a more accurate and complete method for recognizing high-quality plazas. Also, five normalized properties could explain 0.67% of the place quality and sustainability. Comparing this study’s findings with two-dimensional research shows a significant difference in evaluating the quality of two-dimensional and three-dimensional fields.

Zhang Y., Zhang L., Meng Q.

Cooling demand dominates the energy consumption of buildings in hot-summer/warm-winter zones. Vertical green façades (VGFs) are an effective design strategy to reduce the cooling load in these regions. Many studies have investigated the cooling benefits of VGFs; however, the lack of accurate and low-cost co-simulation methods limits their application as it is difficult for architects and engineers to use them to evaluate the energy consumption of buildings. To address this issue, we developed a dynamic heat transfer (DHT) model for VGFs based on the Beer–Lambert Law and Penman–Monteith Equation. We then proposed a co-simulation approach for VGFs with EnergyPlus by using an additional heat source term and energy management system . We subsequently conducted field measurements to validate the accuracy of the DHT model and the reliability of the co-simulation approach. Finally, we created simulation scenarios in four typical cities in the hot-summer/warm-winter zone of China and analysed the effects of a VGF on the cooling load of an office building. The results indicated that the VGF reduced the room cooling load by 11.7–18.4%. Furthermore, improving the wall insulation only led to a 0.3–8.4% reduction in the room cooling load. Moreover, the cooling load saving rates of rooms with a VGF and well-insulated walls were 6.6–15.8%. Our research is likely to prove useful to future researchers investigating VGFs using DHTs and building designers attempting to effectively incorporate VGFs into architectural plans. • We proposed an approach for co-simulation of VGFs and EnergyPlus. • Effect of a VGF on the cooling load of a building was investigated. • VGFs on west-facing walls contributed to maximum cooling load savings. • VGF shading and transpiration reduced cooling load more than adding wall insulation. • Cooling load saving rate from VGFs decreased upon enhancing wall insulation.

Kandelan S.N., Yeganeh M., Peyman S., Panchabikesan K., Eicker U.

• Regression models were developed to prediction model of PM 2.5 concentrations. • The accuracy of the optimized predictive model is 97.5%. • The simulation results show that AQI rates correlate significantly with green spaces and wind direction. • Results show AQI rates correlate significantly with green spaces and wind direction. Urban Green Spaces (UGS) offer various environmental benefits, including controlling the Air Quality Index (AQI), regulating outdoor thermal comfort, and providing suitable spaces for enhanced human health. Due to the high concentrations of pollutants in cities, especially particulate matters with a 2.5-mm diameter (PM 2.5 ), various countries have a wide range of AQI rates. This paper attempts to generalize the results from ENVI-met simulations applied to street canyon configurations in nine cities worldwide and seeks to find a quantitative model to predict ambient PM 2.5 concentrations in terms of meteorological and built environment variables for any street canyon worldwide with the same climate conditions to the simulated models. We selected nine cities from a range of most polluted cities to the least ones based on the statistics in 2019. First, we defined four different scenarios within a pattern of Green Infrastructure (GI) located on the sidewalks; also, by considering independent (greenery and wind direction) and dependent (wind speed, air temperature, humidity, and H/W) variables to find the optimized scenario throw an optimization process. The simulation results show that AQI rates correlate significantly with green spaces and wind direction, and the optimized scenario could decrease the PM 2.5 ambient concentrations up to 33% at the level 1.75 m above the ground, in which people breathe, throw dispersion and deposition of the pollutants. In terms of prediction objectives, regression models were developed to represent the importance of variables and the prediction model of PM 2.5 concentrations in the ambient conditions. The accuracy of the optimized predictive model is 97.5%. We ran a case study with different climatic and meteorological conditions, indicating that the optimized algorithm in a predictive model can be used universally with different AQI and with common climate conditions in the simulated cities.