SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE-IX

SUSTAINABLE SITE PLANNING

LECTURE-6- URBAN HEAT ISLAND

PRESENTED BY: Ar. AASHNA ARORA

 ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABILITY

Site
selection

Site design,
development Site Storm water
and Selection management
management

Transportation
 URBAN GROWTH

• Bangalore City Growth

• Note changes in Green areas vs Built up area
 URBAN GROWTH

• City climate as a micro-climate

• Micro-climate is the climatic condition of the nearest 100m of the ground surface.
 URBAN HEAT
What happens to the Sun’s energy at the Earth’s surface over a city?

• An acre of forest/ green/cropland receives much sunlight as an acre of buildings.

• Green space will be cooler because of transpiration and shading of the ground.
• Urban surfaces get much hotter than vegetated surfaces during the day.
• They release this energy at night, creating a dome of warmer air at night.
 HEAT ISLANDS

• Temperature of the cities is higher than the temperature of the surrounding

areas.
• Showing by isotherm, it looks like a “warm island” surrounded by “cool sea”.
 HEAT ISLANDS

• Downtowns are hottest areas wherever there is concentration of building

activity. Temperature falls down as we move towards rural areas.
 CAUSES HEAT ISLANDS

Change of surface

Heat production

Changes in composition of
atmosphere

Increased turbidity
 CAUSES HEAT ISLANDS
Changes of surface

• Forests destroy----Construction
happening---Change in surfaces---Heat
island effect.
• Heat falls on trees- utilized-transpiration
and photosynthesis.
• Heat falls on buildings- Not utilized for
anything. Energy is constant,
Temperature increases.
• Vegetated areas- has moisture-
environment has moisture- Moisture
content- Not present around or on built
surfaces-Drier cities. • Color of the surface- Lighter-
• Hard surfaces- thermal absorptance and More heat reflected- Less
emmitance-Different materials will have absorbed-
different amount of heat they absorb and
then they release it later. Temperature
variations- Heat island.
• Qe Latent heat (moisture) less in urban areas. More in rural areas. Cause of
increasing temperatures.
• Qs Storage Heat- Hard surfaces in urban areas- More heat
• Qf Anthropogenic heat- Added by humans to environemt(Acs, Fossil fuels, Cars
etc.)-More in urban areas.
 CAUSES HEAT ISLANDS
Heat Production

• Industrial activities
• Cooling and Heating
• Concentration of people
(Anthropogenic heat)

Changes in concentration of atmosphere

• Urban areas-industries-more
green house gases+suspended
particles-bsorb heat-
Temperature rises.
• Concentration of these are more
in cities because of presence of
industries.
 Global Warming?

Increased Turbidity

• Industrial and transport

activities introduce a great
quantity of fine particles into
the air.
• Increase the counter radiation.
• Hinder heat dispersion.
 Effect of Urban Heat Island
• Change in weather pattern in the city.
• If city is hotter- city may not allow formation of clouds (geographic conditions)
• City may allow more than required clouds- floods.
• Wind may be pronounced as low pressure is there depending on geographic
conditions.
• As temperature increases, we require more energy to keep indoor quality comfortable-
More ACs.
• In rural areas-comfortable outer environment-No Acs.

MAGNITUDE OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND

• Size of the cities- Bigger cities- Higher urban heat island.
• Local Micro-climatic conditions- Dependent on Topography and Geography
• Topography
• Diurnal and weekly radiation
• Seasonal variation
• Building density (smaller city could be dense)
• Distance from city centre.
 MAGNITUDE OF URBAN HEAT ISLAND
Topography

• Cities near to oceans, lakes, woodlands, pastures, Forests, at higher altitude areas-
Urban heat island is less pronounced- presence of water bodies and wind it
creates and rural areas are flooded with vegetation.
 Diurnal and weekly radiation
• More pronounced at night (suburbs
are cooler) and during week days.
Seasonal Variation
• More pronounced during winter

Building Density
• Magnitude increases with increased
building density. More hard
surfaces/Less surfaces which percolate
water downwards and allow moisture to
add up, less of vegetation. High density,
Higher UHI.
Distance from city centre
• City centre- economic hub-Higher
building density- Higher UHI
 TEMPERATURE DISTRIBUTION WITHIN CITY

• Intersection of the city- coldest place-heavily travelled main road-stoplights on the

streets.
MITIGATION FOR URBAN HEAT ISLAND (ARCHITECTURALLY)

Building green roof/wall

Create more city parks

Cover roofs and roads with light colored materials to

increase albedo.

Tree plantation and preservation

Presence of water bodies

Low impact development techniques

 Difference between Dark and Light colored materials

• Intent- Chose material which

reflects as much heat as it can.
• Do not paint your building
fully white as it will create
glare on adjacent building-
Chose judiciously- Roofs can
be all white

• Heat into the building by dark

surface is higher.
• White surface- High
reflectance.
High albedo materials
 High emissivity

• So, once we have

reflected the amount of
heat which we can or the
amount of radiation
which is incident on the
surface, the left one is
absorbed. In night,
absorbed heat is re-
radiated.
• SRI should be high.
High SRI, High heat is
reflected back.
 Green Roof

• Roof is part of building which absorbs/

receives maximum amount of heat.
• Turn into Green roof- reduce heat
received by hard surface.
• Darker roof on right side image-cooler-
green roof.
• Dark colored roof on left hand side-Light
colored roof on right hand side.

Green Walls

• Green wall is the wall which is partially

or completely covered with greenery that
includes a growing medium, such as soil,
water, or a substrate.
• Most green walls include an integrated
water delivery system.
• Also known as green wall or vertical
garden.
 LEED COMPLIANCE CRITERIA- NON ROOF

• Placing a minimum 50% of parking space under cover (green cover). As parking
spaces have paved areas, so cover it with covers.
• Example of development project
SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE-IX
SUSTAINABLE SITE PLANNING
STORM WATER MANAGEMENT

PRESENTED BY: Ar. AASHNA ARORA

 WHAT IS STORM WATER ?
• Water that originates during precipitation
events and snow/ice melt.
• It can soak into- soil, be held on the
surface and evaporate or runoff and end up
in nearby streams, rivers or other water
bodies (surface water).

STORM WATER MANAGEMENT

• Proper drainage of surface run-off
• Collected water can be reused for ground water recharge, urban landscaping or
farming, etc.
• Treatment of storm water in a very early stage.
• Avoids damages on infrastructure(private properties, streets etc.); flood prevention.
• Can be integrated into urban landscape and provide green and recreational areas.
 STORM WATER RUN-OFF

• Storm water consists of water from precipitation that flows over surfaces into sewer
systems or receiving water bodies.
• Drains have to be separate drains for sewer systems and for storm water, but
unfortunately in cities both these drains are combined. Same drain for storm, grey and
sometimes black water.
• These drains opens into water bodies (hopefully after infilteration and treatments).
 STORM WATER RUN-OFF- DESIGN GOALS
Planning and design of the site

Paving and roofing materials

RUN-OFF COEFFICIENT (PROPERTY OF

THE MATERIAL)
• Table gives the typical run-off coefficients for
these different types of surfaces, different
types of surface type options.
• Higher run-off coefficient implies most of the
water which will be available through
precipitation will be running off. Very less
water will be retained, evaporated, or
infiltrated to the ground or intercepted.
• Here we are Concerned with infilteration and
evaporation.
• Retention and interception is by virtue of
design.
• Steep slope- Higher run off coefficient.
• Water bodies- Run off coefficient is 0 (ideal
case)
 PRE AND POST DEVELOPMENT
• Intent- Same amount of run-off before and after construction.
• Pre- development- Water was going for evapo-transpiration, surface run-off, interflow
beneath the surface, baseflow where water flow was actually percolating to the ground.
• After- construction- Volume of surface run-off has substantially increased because of
presence of less vegetation. Less water in interflow and baseflow. Not a good scenario.
• More surface run-off implies- More water could have been percolated into the ground
but ran off into the drains and become non-usable or water which requires treatment.
 IMPERVIOUSNESS
• IMPERVIOUSNESS- Indicates capability
of surface to percolate to lower surfaces.
• Run off limited. Intent- More surfaces to
be pervious- Percolate water to the
ground. We want less than 50% of the site
to have high perviousness.
• Promote- water to be retained on the site.

LIMIT IMPERVIOUSNESS

• Preconstruction- No hard surfaces added.

• Earlier ground water was present at 30-40 feet but now it is available at 150-200 feet.
 STRATEGIES
Permeable pavement
• Permeable pavers • Permeable Concrete

• Grass Pavers
 STRATEGIES
Topography

Green Roof
• Also helps in storm water apart from UHI.
• They absorb storm water.
• Reduce the flow of water on the surface.
 STRATEGIES
Constructed wetlands

• Possible on large sites.

• Lowest level of the site- we create water bodies. Allows water to be retained.
• Channelize water if it is full.
 STRATEGIES
Infiltration Trenches

Grass filter strips

• Seen near highways or
roads.
• Grass strip is gently
sloping, then we have
berm so it will hold the
water- allowing for
percolation. Also
allows for retention.
After berm, in forests
area-roots allow for
more percolation.
 STRATEGIES
Grassed Swales

• Green areas with not big and many trees.

• Reduce amount of pollutants (combusted particles, fuels etc) going to the water body.
Only water will be allowed to percolated to the ground. Pollutants held by bunds.
 STRATEGIES
Infiltration Basin

• Instead of channel, we have large basin.

• Loosely packed sub strata- allows for percolation.
• Addition of plants and vegetation helps in maintaining looseness of this sub-strata.
Natural Drainage
• Retaining the drainage pattern which was naturally occurring.
• Auroville- People followed the natural pattern of how water was flowing and then
they looked at where the water needs to be intercepted, so that it does not take away
soil along and where those retention ponds, infiltration basins and the water bodies
have to be created. Can be understood if one knows natural drainage system-part of
natural topography.
SUMMARY OF MEASURES
VOLUME CAPTURED THROUGH COLLECTION FACILITIES
Compliance Options