Outdoor comfort analysis and microclimatic adaptation in a mid-20th century neighbourhood. A two scenarios simulation case study

Abstract

The Modern Movement extended its architectural and urban principles throughout mid-20th century Europe. Low-income housing developments were built with a novelty urban distribution, generating singular areas that are still widespread today in medium and large European cities. These neighbourhoods have suffered several modifications and updates that have changed their urban configuration. Furthermore, most of these housing complexes, which were built without thermal insulation, present social and economic difficulties. Today, with the overheating and the energetic global crisis, they face a serious fuel poverty situation. Authors have already researched passive cooling and how heat mitigation improves the free-running buildings indoor conditions. However, these widespread urban fabrics and how their modifications have improved or worsened their microclimate have not been adequately studied. This research proposes a microclimatic study through a simulation from two scenarios of the same case study, comparing the original urban status with the current one. For this purpose, the ENVI-met microclimate simulation software tool is used. As part of the proposed methodology, model calibration is supported by onsite data recollection. Thermal comfort is evaluated and confronted in both scenarios obtaining outdoor Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET). Through the microclimate simulations it can be analysed that no relevant mitigation effect during the day were achieved by the interventions. Furthermore, on the current scenario a slightly night overheating effect compared with the original one was confirmed. Therefore, it can be concluded that this urban intervention through the years has been inefficient for microclimate comfort.