The urban climate: an integrated approach to building performance and urban design

The urban climate: an integrated approach to building performance and urban design

By Gurdane Virk

Supervisors:

Mike Davies

Anna Mavrogianni

Anastasia Mylona

Industrial Supervisor/Sponsor:

CIBSE

2011 – ongoing

This project aims to develop decision support tools in two respects. The first is to apply accessible climate and building models to deepen our understanding of how urban climates affect the built environment and in turn, how changes to land use and building design affect the urban environment. 

The second aim of the project is to use any of the outputs and knowledge gained from applying the software tools as contributions to CIBSE guidance. As a membership organisation that produces design guidance for the built environment and engineering communities, CIBSE would be able to use any of the modelling tools developed to inform future guidance and minimise the environmental impact of developments by encouraging sustainable design in urban environments.

The potential result of the project would be a direct use of this research by industry and would be ideally suited to a range of expertise. If the software tools were developed further enough, they could potentially become accessible to CIBSE members, but will be dependent on time and resource restraints. The ultimate aim of the project is to produce a new Technical Memorandum on Urban Climates.