High-Rise Residential District Morphology Optimization for Enhancing the Green Space Cooling Effect

Abstract

Large-scale urban green spaces exert a cooling effect in cities and have great potential for optimizing the urban climate. In this study, taking the typical green space Xingfulindai in Xi’an as an example, we carried out field measurements and ENVI-met simulations of the area and the surrounding high-rise residential areas to analyze the cooling effect. The results show that the cooling effect is the strongest at night in summer seasons, spreading up to 250 m, and the cooling intensity along the downwind direction can be up to 2 °C. On this basis, a total of 16 ideal models of seven groups of high-rise residential blocks were established to analyze the effect of three morphological indices, namely, building orientation, podium ratio, and otherness with respect to the cooling effect of the green space, and a block morphology design strategy for high-rise residential areas was proposed to enhance the cooling effect of the green space. This study provides climate-adaptive optimization strategies for the construction and renewal of residential blocks.

Keywords

• urban cool island
• urban morphology
• environmental evaluation
• district development