Urban climatic map and STEVE tool for sustainable urban planning in Singapore

Abstract

Extensive urbanization has resulted in economic, social, energy & environmental problems. The trend in global population increase leads to an increase in demand for housing. Natural land has been replaced with artificial surfaces in most cities around the world with undesirable thermal effects. This, together with growth in industrialization, has caused a deterioration of the urban environment. Urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon has become a common problem in many major cities worldwide. Urban climate is one of elements of urban physical environment, which is often ignored in urban planning. To design a sustainable city, it is necessary to factor the climatic information holistically and strategically into the planning process. Sustainable urban development emerges as one of the main issues to tackle the UHI problem and to increase energy saving of buildings. At the building level, many building energy simulations have emerged to provide energy assessment for building during the design stage. However, the challenge remains for the estate development. Combining the air temperature prediction models and urban climatic mapping method, a framework is developed as an assessment tool to help urban planners in their design process. Since the 1970s, the concept of urban climate map (UCMap) has been developed by German researchers, which have a strong focus on applied urban climatology. It is considered as an appropriate tool for translating climatic phenomenon and problem into 2-D images and symbols with land use and spatial information for the urban planning use. It can help urban planners, architects and governors to understand and evaluate the effect of urban climatic issues on decision-making and environment control. The Screening Tool for Estate Environment Evaluation (STEVE) was developed with a motivation to bridge research findings, especially air temperature prediction models, and urban planners. STEVE is a web-based application that is specific to an estate and it calculates the T min, T avg and T maxof a point of interest for the existing condition and future condition (proposed master plan) of an estate. By combining these two methods, urban climatic map and STEVE Tool will help creating a more sustainable urban planning.