Desert garden techniques to ameliorate urban microclimates : an example of application in Granada, Spain
In this day and age we are faced with urban cores getting hotter, with the main drivers being climate change and the urban heat island effect. This gets even more complicated as the parts of Europe that have the largest need too cool down, i.e. the south, has the least amount of space available f...
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| Formato: | H2 |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés sueco Español |
| Publicado: |
SLU/Dept. of Landscape Architecture, Planning and Management (from 130101)
2022
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| Materias: |
| Sumario: | In this day and age we are faced with urban cores getting hotter, with the main drivers
being climate change and the urban heat island effect. This gets even more complicated
as the parts of Europe that have the largest need too cool down, i.e. the south, has the
least amount of space available for interventions in the form of green space. The aim for
this study is to connect the potential between ideas from ancient desert cultures and the
current climactic challenges in the urban framework.
This thesis consists of two parts, the first is to identify gardening techniques from the
following desert cultures: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Persia and Ancient Andalusia. The
second part is to examine what microclimactic effect these techniques would have on an
open urban area in Granada, Spain. The effects are examined using a software that
examines the climactic effects of changing the radiation and latent heat flux.
Fifteen main techniques were found to be relevant to combat the challenges of hot
microclimates in the city. Some of these techniques are chosen to be part of a scenario of
intervention. On a normal summers day with an air temperature of 34.8 oC, the difference
of intervention and no intervention is 5.01 oC in mean radiant temperature (max). The
areas with the maximal thermal change had their mean radiant temperature lowered by
7.31 oC. It can therefore be concluded that the garden techniques from these desert
cultures can be used in city spaces to have a real impact on the microclimate. This is a
possible solution for the climate adaptation of the cities in the south of Europe that have
little space for very large interventions. |
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