Abstract
Effective urban ventilation cools physical surfaces, reduces energy consumption and improves human thermal comfort under hot conditions, especially in tropical and subtropical regions. It is important for planners and architects to understand the influences of urban morphological features on wind environment and air movement.
In addition to a concise literature review regarding wind behaviour in tropical and subtropical high-density urban environments, this study uses Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations to assess strategies of adjusting breezeway features based on Singapore’s climate. These strategies include: (1) reducing breezeway network densities; (2) varying breezeway widths; (3) varying breezeway spacing; (4) staggering the block; and (5) inserting T-shaped junctions by merging two plots. They were studied in two plot types, namely, separate blocks on top of the podium (type A) or ground (type B), which have the same building plot ratios and site areas.
By comparing strategies, in general, the second strategy—varying breezeway widths—achieves the best compromise between pedestrian and building ventilation potentials. On the contrary, the third and fourth strategies lead to poor ventilation. In addition, by comparing the plot types, type B (without podium) tends to achieve better wind environments in most of the strategies. Furthermore, with higher design flexibility, breezeway patterns inside land lots have stronger effects on urban ventilation than breezeway patterns outside land lots.
The results in terms of the influence of breezeway network patterns as a design parameter are significant for both planners and architects. For planners, they provide direct guidance for arranging streets and other city open spaces, which should be planned prior to building design. For architects, they offer an effective way to parameterise the building layouts especially those of extreme complexity. Whilst the study focuses on the macro level, both aspects of urban planning and design are important complements to other urban cooling strategies.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Blocken, B., Stathopoulos, T., & van Beeck, J. P. A. J. (2016). Pedestrian-level wind conditions around buildings: Review of wind-tunnel and CFD techniques and their accuracy for wind comfort assessment. Building and Environment, 100, 50–81.
Buccolieri, R., Sandberg, M., & Di Sabatino, S. (2010). City breathability and its link to pollutant concentration distribution within urban-like geometries. Atmospheric Environment, 44(15), 1894–1903.
Building and Construction Authority. (2010). Green building planning and massing. Singapore: Building and Construction Authority.
Building and Construction Authority. (2012). Certification standard for new buildings, BCA green mark (Version 4.1). Singapore: Building and Construction Authority. https://www.bca.gov.sg/GreenMark/others/GM_Certification_Std2012.pdf.
Chatelet, A., Fernandez, P., & Lavigne, P. (1998). Architecture Climatique. Une contribution au développement durable 2. Aix-en-Provence: Edisud.
Cheshmehzangi, A., Zhu, Y., Li, B. (2010). Integrated urban design approach: sustainability for urban design. Proceedings for ICRM 2010, 5th International Conference for Responsive Manufacturing in China. Ningbo.
Franke, J., Hellsten, A., Schlünzen, H., & Carissimo, B. (2007). Best practice guideline for the CFD simulation of flows in the urban environment, COST 732. Quality assurance and improvement of microscale meteorological models. Brussels: COST Office.
Georgakis, C., & Santamouris, M. (2005). Wind and temperature in the urban environment. In C. Ghiaus & F. Allard (Eds.), Natural ventilation in the urban environment: Assessment and design (pp. 81–102). London/Sterling: Earthscan.
Givoni, B., Khedari, J., Wong, N. H., Feriadi, H., & Noguchi, M. (2006). Thermal sensation responses in hot, humid climates: Effects of humidity. Building Research and Information, 34(5), 496–506.
Hong Kong Planning Department. (2005). Feasibility study for establishment of air ventilation assessment system. Final report, Hong Kong.
Kubota, T., Miura, M., Tominaga, Y., & Mochida, A. (2008). Wind tunnel tests on the relationship between building density and pedestrian-level wind velocity: Development of guidelines for realizing acceptable wind environment in residential neighborhoods. Building and Environment, 43(10), 1699–1708.
Launder, B. E., & Spalding, D. B. (1974). The numerical computation of turbulent flows. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 3(2), 269–289.
Li, B., Liu, J., & Li, M. (2013). Wind tunnel study on the morphological parameterization of building non-uniformity. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 121, 60–69.
Lin, M., Hang, J., Li, Y., Luo, Z., & Sandberg, M. (2014). Quantitative ventilation assessments of idealized urban canopy layers with various urban layouts and the same building packing density. Building and Environment, 79, 152–167.
National Environment Agency. Record of climate station mean, weather statistics 2016. http://www.nea.gov.sg/weather-climate/climate/weather-statistics
Ng, E. (2010). Designing high-density cities: For social and environmental sustainability. London/Sterling: Earthscan.
Ng, E. (2009). Policies and technical guidelines for urban planning of high-density cities – Air ventilation assessment (AVA) of Hong Kong. Building and Environment, 44(7), 1478–1488.
Oke, T. R. (2002). Boundary layer climates. Abingdon: Routledge.
Rajagopalan, P., Lim, K. C., & Jamei, E. (2014). Urban heat island and wind flow characteristics of a tropical city. Solar Energy, 107, 159–170.
Ramponi, R., Blocken, B., Laura, B., & Janssen, W. D. (2015). CFD simulation of outdoor ventilation of generic urban configurations with different urban densities and equal and unequal street widths. Building and Environment, 92, 152–166.
Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., et al. (2014). Climate change 2013: The physical science basis. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press.
Tominaga, Y., Mochida, A., Yoshie, R., Kataoka, H., Nozu, T., Yoshikawa, M., & Shirasawa, T. (2008). AIJ guidelines for practical applications of CFD to pedestrian wind environment around buildings. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 96(10–11), 1749–1761.
Tsutsumi, J., Katayama, T., & Nishida, M. (1992). Wind tunnel tests of wind pressure on regularly aligned buildings. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 43(1), 1799–1810.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2017). World Population Prospects: The 2017 Revision, Key Findings and Advance Tables. New York: United Nations. https://esa.un.org/unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/WPP2017_KeyFindings.pdf
Wong, N. H., & Chen, Y. (2005). Study of green areas and urban heat island in a tropical city. Habitat International, 29(3), 547–558.
Wong, N. H., & Chen, Y. (2008). Tropical urban heat islands: Climate, buildings and greenery. Abingdon: Taylor & Francis.
Wong, M. S., Nichol, J. E., Pui Hang To, & Wang, J. (2010). A simple method for designation of urban ventilation corridors and its application to urban heat island analysis. Building and Environment, 45(8), 1880–1889.
Yang, W., Wong, N. H., & Jusuf, S. K. (2013). Thermal comfort in outdoor urban spaces in Singapore. Building and Environment, 59, 426–435.
Zaki, S. A., Hagishima, A., & Tanimoto, J. (2012). Experimental study of wind-induced ventilation in urban building of cube arrays with various layouts. Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, 103, 31–40.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Tablada, A., He, Y. (2018). Modeling City Patterns for Urban Ventilation: Strategies in High Density Areas of Singapore. In: Cheshmehzangi, A., Butters, C. (eds) Designing Cooler Cities. Palgrave Series in Asia and Pacific Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6638-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6638-2_9
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-10-6637-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-10-6638-2
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)