![Sample our Built Environment journals, sign in here to start your access, Latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5926/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Built-Environment.jpg"})
Abstract
Understanding the urban microclimatic spatial distribution and its impact on thermal comfort is important for integrating climatic consideration into urban design process. This article presents a case study in Tsim Sha Tsui and Tai Po of Hong Kong densely built-up areas to investigate the spatial distribution of microclimatic condition. Air temperature (Ta), wind speed (v), relative humidity (RH) and globe temperature (Tg) of 87 locations in two selected sites were measured on a summer day and a winter day respectively. Physiological Equivalent Temperature was calculated to analyse the thermal comfort condition in two sites. Both numerical simulation and geographical mapping approach were used for the estimation of the microclimatic spatial distribution. Results show that the influence of urban morphology on the microclimatic spatial distribution can be well investigated by using numerical simulation while geographical mapping based on measured data shows higher estimation accuracy due to the consideration of anthropogenic heat and other factors associated with human activities. In summary, this article presents a pragmatic approach of mapping the urban microclimatic spatial distribution that can be referenced by architects and urban designers to raise climatic considerations for designing better cities.
Acknowledgements
The study is supported by an Early Career Schem Project Grant 2013/14 (Project No.: RGC-ECS458413, named “Applying “Local Climate Zone (LCZ)” into High-density High-rise Cities – A Case Study in Hong Kong”) of Hong Kong Research Grants Council. The authors wish to thank Prof. Lutz Katzschner for preparing and conducting field measurements and Mr. Max Lee for calibrating and setting the equipment. In particular, the authors wish to thank Dr. Kevin Lau for giving his advice on academic paper writing. The authors also wish to give special thanks to the referees for their valuable comments which help to improve the paper a lot.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.