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Introducing environmental principles, methodology and tools for bioclimatic urban open space design of Mediterranean cities

Tsitoura Marianna

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Summary

While comfort conditions of the indoor environment have been extensively analysed during the last decades, increasing interest has been given towards the influence of the outdoor environment to sustainable use of urban open spaces by citizens of cities. The scope of this study is to introduce an integrated approach to urban open space design by following a refined design process and proposing a new palette of decision-making tools.The study quantifies the effect of the most common parameters that affect the comfort conditions of urban open spaces in cities with a Mediterranean climate. The analysed parameters are addressed mostly on existing open spaces and can be easily adjusted through open space regeneration. The studied parameters are height to width ratio of an urban canyon, sky view factor, greenery coverage percentage and paving material properties. Each parameter is investigated individually and in relation to the others. The obtained results indicate that there is a significant correlation between certain parameters which produce approximately the same amount of influence to the design. In the same time, other parameters influence the whole area cumulatively. This study also offers a complete methodological tool which allows a simplified and accurate analysis that takes into consideration the most crucial microclimatic parameters and can provide the necessary information to the design team to develop sustainable outdoor urban open spaces especially for the summer season in cities with a Mediterranean climate. The proposed tool provides to stakeholders, a set of comparable data of certain bioclimatic indexes that will speed-up and guide the decision process on the basic issues regarding the new area design.if a design team working on an urban area regeneration project, use specific bioclimatic criteria as basic directions for the design concept will achieve good results with improved microclimate comfort conditions for the space users. The study proposes a methodology that combines a literature review, simulation and evaluation of different case scenarios and implementation on existing areas of Crete, Greece. This methodology reflects the evidence-based design principles for the bioclimatic regeneration of urban open spaces in cities with a Mediterranean climate and it has been already applied and evaluated in several architectural projects in Greece.

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