Effects of urban heat island mitigation strategies in an urban square: A numerical modelling and experimental investigation

It is generally recognized that both urbanization and climate change contribute to the emergence of urban heat islands (UHI). Urban areas frequently encounter summertime local overheating, which is stressful and negatively affects a building's systems capacity to maintain the indoor air temperature setpoint. UHI has sharply increased during the last 10 years as a result of shifting land use patterns, escalating urbanization, and declining plant and water supplies. The scientific community has recently paid a lot of attention to studies on UHI mitigation techniques, including those utilizing green roofs, cool materials, vegetation, and water supplies. In this work, a square in Rome was experimentally and numerically investigated to assess a potential remedy for reducing outdoor air temperatures. A calibrated numerical model was made using the ENVI met tool, and several types of mitigation scenarios were looked at in order to lessen the area's warming and analyze the impacts of the recommended remedies on decreasing air temperature. The study's findings show that changing the pavement's albedo and adding more vegetation inside the square enhance the thermal conditions of the air. The use of grass pavers, in particular, would provide the biggest advantages.