Does the orientation of urban canyon justify the deviation between the microclimate and thermal comfort? A tropical context

Abstract

Climate change and the urban heat island phenomenon are significant concerns in the current urban discussion. The increase in heat stress causes high cooling loads in tropical cities. The recent studies on urban climate discuss ranges of physical design alternatives in fulfilling the climate change mitigation and adaptation agenda. Urban canyon, as the primary form of urban space, was explored through the alternative of urban configurations in this study. The urban configuration was situated in the outdoor space of residential high-rise blocks in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The ENVI-met V.3.1 simulation was used to investigate the impact of urban canyon directions on both urban microclimate and thermal comfort. The results indicate the significant gap between air temperature (Ta) and Mean Radiant Temperature (Tmrt) due to the urban canyon exposure to East and West and the role of reduced wind velocity
in the dense city center. The finding suggests the strategy of urban configurations to adapt to local physical and climate context.