Search for Articles:
Title / Keyword
Author / Affiliation / Email
Journal
Article Type
 
 
Advanced Search
 
Section
Special Issue
Volume
Issue
Number
Page
 
6.2
3.0
Journals
Energies
Special Issues
Resilience and Climate Adaptability of Buildings and Urban Areas
energies-logo
Submit to Energies Review for Energies Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

► Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser
share announcement

Resilience and Climate Adaptability of Buildings and Urban Areas

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "G: Energy and Buildings".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 October 2021) | Viewed by 18642

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Tristan Kershaw

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Energy and the Design of Environments (EDEn), Department of Architecture & Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath, UK
Interests: buildings; urban climate; heat island; climate change; adaptation
Prof. Dr. David Coley

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, University of Bath, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Interests: buildings; thermal comfort; climate change; energy efficiency
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The world is becoming ever more urban, with larger, denser conglomerations of buildings. Larger, denser cities are viewed as being more energy and resource efficient but have the effect of intensifying the microclimatic effects responsible for the urban heat island effect. Areas of thermally massive, impermeable surfaces typical of dense urban centres, store heat distorting the diurnal temperature cycle, increase surface water runoff increasing flood risk and reducing evapotranspiration, which can cool the air and promote vertical transport of heat away from a city. Measurements show that the increase in air temperatures experienced in urban centres can be greater than even the most aggressive estimates of climate change over this century. Furthermore, the potency of the heat island is greatest during extreme heatwave events, increasing the risk of heat-related morbidity and mortality. Therefore, in the face of a changing climate increasing urbanisation poses a material risk to human health.

This Special Issue will collect the latest research on how we can design buildings and urban areas to decrease the risks of climatic change and ameliorate the urban heat island effect making urban areas more comfortable and safer for human habitation both in and out of doors. Through this holistic approach, we can create truly resilient urban areas.

Dr. Tristan Kershaw
Prof. David Coley
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Urban climate
  • Urban heat island
  • Outdoor thermal comfort
  • Climate change resilience
  • Adaptation
  • Master planning
  • Human health and wellbeing

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue polices can be found here.

Published Papers (5 papers)

Download All Papers
Order results
Result details
Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

26 pages, 52099 KiB  
Article
Crowdsourcing Urban Air Temperature Data for Estimating Urban Heat Island and Building Heating/Cooling Load in London
by Kit Benjamin, Zhiwen Luo and Xiaoxue Wang
Energies 2021, 14(16), 5208; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14165208 - 23 Aug 2021
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3219
Abstract
Urban heat island (UHI) effects significantly impact building energy. Traditional UHI investigation methods are often incapable of providing the high spatial density of observations required to distinguish small-scale temperature differences in the UHI. Crowdsourcing offers a solution. Building cooling/heating load in 2018 has [...] Read more.
Urban heat island (UHI) effects significantly impact building energy. Traditional UHI investigation methods are often incapable of providing the high spatial density of observations required to distinguish small-scale temperature differences in the UHI. Crowdsourcing offers a solution. Building cooling/heating load in 2018 has been estimated in London, UK, using crowdsourced data from over 1300 Netatmo personal weather stations. The local climate zone (LCZ) scheme was used to classify the different urban environments of London (UK). Inter-LCZ temperature differences are found to be generally consistent with LCZ temperature definitions. Analysis of cooling degree hours in July shows LCZ 2 (the densest urban LCZ in London) had the highest cooling demand, with a total of 1550 cooling degree hours. The suburban related LCZs 5 and 6 and rural LCZs B and D all had about 80% of the demand of LCZ 2. In December, the rural LCZs A, B and D had the greatest heating demand, with all recording around 5750 heating degree hours. Urban LCZs 2, 5 and 6 had 91%, 86% and 95% of the heating demand of LCZ D, respectively. This study has highlighted both advantages and issues with using crowdsourced data for urban climate and building energy research. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilience and Climate Adaptability of Buildings and Urban Areas)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

26 pages, 47928 KiB  
Article
Prediction of Climate Change Effect on Outdoor Thermal Comfort in Arid Region
by Mohamed Elhadi Matallah, Waqas Ahmed Mahar, Mushk Bughio, Djamel Alkama, Atef Ahriz and Soumia Bouzaher
Energies 2021, 14(16), 4730; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164730 - 4 Aug 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3072
Abstract
Climate change and expected weather patterns in the long-term threaten the livelihood inside oases settlements in arid lands, particularly under the recurring heat waves during the harsh months. This paper investigates the impact of climate change on the outdoor thermal comfort within a [...] Read more.
Climate change and expected weather patterns in the long-term threaten the livelihood inside oases settlements in arid lands, particularly under the recurring heat waves during the harsh months. This paper investigates the impact of climate change on the outdoor thermal comfort within a multifamily housing neighborhood that is considered the most common residential archetype in Algerian Sahara, under extreme weather conditions in the summer season, in the long-term. It focuses on assessing the outdoor thermal comfort in the long-term, based on the Perceived Temperature index (PT), using simulation software ENVI-met and calculation model RayMan. Three different stations in situ were conducted and combined with TMY weather datasets for 2020 and the IPCC future projections: A1B, A2, B1 for 2050, and 2080. The results are performed from two different perspectives: to investigate how heat stress evolution undergoes climate change from 2020 till 2080; and for the development of a mathematical algorithm to predict the outdoor thermal comfort values in short-term, medium-term and long-term durations. The results indicate a gradual increase in PT index values, starting from 2020 and progressively elevated to 2080 during the summer season, which refers to an extreme thermal heat-stress level with differences in PT index averages between 2020 and 2050 (+5.9 °C), and 2080 (+7.7 °C), meaning no comfortable thermal stress zone expected during 2080. This study gives urban climate researchers, architects, designers and urban planners several insights into predicted climate circumstances and their impacts on outdoor thermal comfort for the long-term under extreme weather conditions, in order to take preventive measures for the cities’ planning in the arid regions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilience and Climate Adaptability of Buildings and Urban Areas)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 7393 KiB  
Article
Adaptation of Post-Industrial Areas as Hydrological Windows to Improve the City’s Microclimate
by Rafał Blazy, Hanna Hrehorowicz-Gaber and Alicja Hrehorowicz-Nowak
Energies 2021, 14(15), 4488; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14154488 - 24 Jul 2021
Viewed by 2116
Abstract
Post-industrial areas in larger cities often cease to fulfill their role and their natural result is their transformation. They often constitute a large area directly adjacent to the city structure and are exposed to urbanization pressure, and on the other hand, they are [...] Read more.
Post-industrial areas in larger cities often cease to fulfill their role and their natural result is their transformation. They often constitute a large area directly adjacent to the city structure and are exposed to urbanization pressure, and on the other hand, they are often potential hydrological windows. The approach to the development strategy for such areas should take this potential into account. The article presents the example of Cracow (Poland) and post-industrial areas constituting the hydrological and bioretention potential in terms of the possibility of their development and the legal aspects of the development strategies of these areas. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilience and Climate Adaptability of Buildings and Urban Areas)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

17 pages, 4160 KiB  
Article
Designing an Energy-Resilient Neighbourhood Using an Urban Building Energy Model
by Niall Buckley, Gerald Mills, Samuel Letellier-Duchesne and Khadija Benis
Energies 2021, 14(15), 4445; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14154445 - 23 Jul 2021
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 4488
Abstract
A climate resilient city, perforce, has an efficient and robust energy infrastructure that can harvest local energy resources and match energy sources and sinks that vary over space and time. This paper explores the use of an urban building energy model (UBEM) to [...] Read more.
A climate resilient city, perforce, has an efficient and robust energy infrastructure that can harvest local energy resources and match energy sources and sinks that vary over space and time. This paper explores the use of an urban building energy model (UBEM) to examine the potential for creating a near-zero carbon neighbourhood in Dublin (Ireland) that is characterised by diverse land-uses and old and new building stock. UBEMs are a relatively new tool that allows the simulation of building energy demand across an urbanised landscape and can account for building layout, including the effects of overshadowing and the potential for facade retrofits and energy generation. In this research, a novel geographic database of buildings is created using archetypes, and the associated information on dimensions, fabric and energy systems is integrated into the Urban Modelling Interface (UMI). The model is used to simulate current and future energy demand based on climate change projections and to test scenarios that apply retrofits to the existing stock and that link proximate land-uses and land-covers. The latter allows a significant decoupling of the neighbourhood from an offsite electricity generation station with a high carbon output. The findings of this paper demonstrate that treating neighbourhoods as single energy entities rather than collections of individual sectors allows the development of bespoke carbon reducing scenarios that are geographically situated. The work shows the value of a neighbourhood-based approach to energy management using UBEMs. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilience and Climate Adaptability of Buildings and Urban Areas)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 9227 KiB  
Article
On the Optimisation of Urban form Design, Energy Consumption and Outdoor Thermal Comfort Using a Parametric Workflow in a Hot Arid Zone
by Yasser Ibrahim, Tristan Kershaw, Paul Shepherd and David Coley
Energies 2021, 14(13), 4026; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14134026 - 4 Jul 2021
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 4481
Abstract
The recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urge for the reconceptualization of our design of the urban built environments. However, current efforts to integrate urban environmental assessment into practice in Egypt are proving insufficient. This paper utilises the Ladybug [...] Read more.
The recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urge for the reconceptualization of our design of the urban built environments. However, current efforts to integrate urban environmental assessment into practice in Egypt are proving insufficient. This paper utilises the Ladybug tools simulation plugins to investigate the impact of changing the morphological characteristics of three-block typologies (scattered, linear and courtyard) and their associated parameters to understand their multidimensional relationship with environmental conditions, outdoor thermal comfort and energy use intensity. This study based in Cairo, Egypt, considers 3430 hypothetical geometrical configurations comprising of a variety of design parameters and indicators. The results show a strong correlation between the design parameters and the combined performance of thermal comfort and energy consumption (R2 = 0.84), with urban density having the strongest impact on both thermal comfort and energy use (R2 = 0.7 and 0.95, respectively). The design parameters exhibited a consistent impact on the different typologies, albeit with varying magnitude. Compact and medium-density urban forms are shown to elicit the best overall performance, especially for ordinal orientations (e.g., ~45°) across all typologies. Compact high-density scattered forms are favoured when considering thermal comfort, while courtyards outperform other typologies when considering energy efficiency and overall performance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Resilience and Climate Adaptability of Buildings and Urban Areas)
►▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

Show export options expand_more Show export options expand_less
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
 
Displaying articles 1-5
Back to TopTop