ANTHROPOGENIC HEAT IN SINGAPORE CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT

Abstract

As Singapore becomes increasingly urbanized, with more vegetation giving way for urban structures to accommodate the future population, the study of the effects of urban buildings on the environment is of paramount importance. Due to land scarcity, densely compacted high-rise buildings have become commonplace. These buildings have also contributed to the Urban Heat-Island (UHI) effect. The UHI phenomenon is a problem faced by many cities and has resulted in increased temperatures which lead to discomfort among the urban population and higher air conditioning requirements that increase the power consumption of a city. Hence, the mitigation of the UHI effect has been at the forefront of research. UHI in temperate countries have been extensively studied and have been found to be a result of several factors that increase the amount of solar radiation and radiation retention in a city. Such factors include the urban façade of buildings, the anthropogenic heat contributions and pollution emissions of the urban population and the vehicles, as well as the effects of unique urban morphologies. However, little research has been conducted for tropical countries like Singapore. Therefore, in this paper, the focus will be on Singapore as tropical cities have unique environments and face a different set of issues from temperate countries. In this study, qualitative and quantitative approaches will be taken in order to observe the effects of various unique urban features such as urban morphology, vehicular traffic, pollution, and wind flow have on anthropogenic heat. The relationships between these features and the surrounding temperatures will then be examined. Thus, the results obtained in this study may be applied to future urban planning in order to mitigate the UHI effect and contribute towards Singapore’s vision of sustainable agriculture.