Assessing and upgrading urban thermal resilience of a Spanish MoMo neighbourhood over the span of 1960–2080
Javier Sola-Caraballo, Victoria Patricia López-Cabeza, Jorge Roa-Fernández, Carlos Rivera-Gómez, Carmen Galán-Marín
Abstract
We are currently witnessing an unprecedentedly fast change in environmental parameters for which most cities worldwide are not well prepared. One of the most characteristic urban fabrics of many European cities is the residential neighbourhood typology built in the second half of the 20th century and influenced by the Modern Movement. This study aims to develop an assessment-and-upgrading methodology of the urban microclimatic resilience of these residential neighbourhoods, using a case study for the application considering past, present, and future climatic contexts. ENVI-met software is used to examine the original layout of the case study, its evolution up to the present time and the proposal for its adaptation to the worst climatic forecasts for the end of the century, suggesting solutions to enhance thermal comfort. The results show a significant reduction in extreme warm conditions of up to 6.3 °C in UTCI in the worst-case scenario at the century's end, proving the importance of passive strategies in achieving improved urban resilience in warm cities. The methodology applied in this study can serve as a starting point for a broader analysis to be applied to different urban typologies other than the residential one and in different climatic contexts.