Iranian Journal of Horticultural Science

Iranian Journal of Horticultural Science

Study of the effects of vegetation and urban hard surfaces on microclimate and thermal comfort in Mashhad

Document Type : Full Paper

Authors
Zahra Karimian
Ali Tehranifar
Mohammad Banayan
Majid Azizi
Fateme Kazemi
10.22059/ijhs.2015.53499
Abstract
Considering high population and hot and arid climate in most cities in Iran, creating optimum thermal comfort during the hot periods is necessary. An experiment was conducted to examine the effect of percentage vegetation and hard surfaces on changes of temperature, humidity and thermal comfort of in three urban sites and Mashhad weather station was investigated. Climate and recorded data from weather station and Danesh crossroad, Moghadam-Tabarsi intersection and Mellat Park that were different in terms of percentage vegetation and hard surfaces were compared with each other. Thermal comfort indices and the ranges of them in hottest period of 2011 were calculated by categorizing age and gender differences. The results of statistical analysis and RayMan model outputs showed that temperature and humidity of Danesh crossroad and Moghadam-Tabarsi intersection in comparison with those of weather station in particular Mellat Park were significantly higher and lower, respectively. Thermal comfort indices showed that as time passes in this period, the potential of the days create little heat stress, strong and very strong heat stresses in urban dwellers respectively and Mellat Park and weather station site were more appropriate than Danesh crossroad and Moghadam-Tabarsi intersection in terms of thermal comfort for people.
Keywords
Green space
Heat Islands
Humidity
temperature
  1. Afsharkohan, J., Balali, A. & Ghodsi, M. (2010). Investigation of social aspects of problem of urban traffic (Case study: Mashhad), Urban Studies, 4(2), 50-90. (In Farsi).
  2. Akbari, H., Pomerantz, M. & Taha, T. (2001). Cool surfaces and shade trees to reduce energy use and improve air quality in urban areas. Solar Energy, 70(3), 295-310.
  3. Alexandri, E. & Jones, P. (2008). Temperature decrease in an urban canyon due to green walls and green roofs in diverse climates, Building and Environment, 43, 480-493.
  4. Ali Toudert, F. (2005). Dependence of Outdoor Thermal Comfort on Street Design in Hot and Dry Climate, Ph.D. Thesis. Berichte des Meteorologischen Institutes, Universität Freiburg, Germany.
  5. Alizadeh, A. (2000). Principles of applied hydrology. Ferdowsi University OF Mashhad Press, pp. 622.
  6. Azad, R.S. (1993). Atmospheric Boundary Layer for Engineers, Kluwer Academic Prees, Dordrecht. pp. 565.
  7. Bloomer, B. J., Stehr, J.W., Piety, C.A., Salawitch, R. J. & Dickerson, R.R. (2009). Observed relationships of ozone air pollution with temperature and emissions, Geophysical Research Letters, 36, 1-5.
  8. Bruse, M. (2007). ENVI-met v. 3.0., http://www.envi-met.com>Accessed 1 July 2007.
  9. Ca, V.T., Aseada, T. & Abu, E.M. (1998). Reduction in air conditioning energy caused by a nearby park, Energy and Buildings, 29, 83-92.
  10. Cao, X., Onishi, A., Chen, J. and Imura, H. 2010. Quantifying the cool island intensity of urban parks using ASTER and IKONOS data. Landscape & Urban Planning, 96(4): 224-31.
    1. Chen, Z., Krarti, M., Zhai, Z., Meng, Q. & Zhao, L. (2009). Sensitive analysis of landscaping effects on outdoor thermal environment in a residential community of hot-humid area in china. In: Proceeding of The seventh International Conference on Urban Climate, Yokohama, Japan.
    2. Cheng, Y.Y. & Byun, D W. (2008). Application of high resolution land use and land cover data for atmospheric modeling in the Houston-Galveston metropolitan area, part I: Meteorological simulation results, Atmospheric Environment, 42, 7795-7811.
    3. Davoodi, M., Mohammadi, H. & Bay, N. (2009). Analysis and prediction some Mashhad climatic elements. Nivar Science and Technology Journal, 71, 35-46. (In Farsi).
    4. Esmaili, R., Gandomkar, A. & Habibi Nokhandan, M. (2010). Assessment of Comfortable Climate in Several Main Iranian Tourism Cities Using Physiologic Equivalence Temperature Index, Physical Geography Research Quatrterly, 75, 1-18. (In Farsi).
    5. Esteban Cunsulo, M., Papparelli, A., Kurban, A. Montilla, E. and Rios, E. 2009. Measurement of the urban heat island and humidity depression in a city of arid zone, The 7th International Conference on Urban Climate, Yokohama, Japan.
      1. Fahmy, M., Sharples, S. & Yahiya, M. (2010). LAI based trees selection for mid latitude urban developments: A microclimatic study in Cairo, Egypt. Building and Environment, 45, 345-357.
      2. Fischer, P. H., B. Brunekreef, & Lebret, E. (2004). Air pollution related deaths during the 2003 heat wave in the Netherlands. Atmospheric Environment, 38, 1083-1085.
      3. Ghazanfari, M. S., Alizadeh, A., Naseri, M., Farid Hosseini, A. 2010. Evaluating the Effects of UHI on Mashhad Precipitation, Journal of Water and Soil, 24(2), 359-366.
      4. Grimmond, C.S.B. and T.R. Oke. 1999. Rates of evaporation in urban areas. Impacts of Urban Growth on Surface and Ground Waters. International Association of Hydrological Sciences Publication, 259: 235-243.
        1. Hadaegh, F., Zabetian, A. & Azizi, F. (2008). Effects of weight change on creation of metabolic syndrome in Iranian men and women, Prospective investigation. Iranian Journal of Diabetes and Lipid Disorders, 9(1), 53-63. (In Farsi)
        2. Haghdoost, A., Mirzazadeh, A. & Alikhani, S. (2008). Secular Trend of Height Variations in Iranian Population Born between 1940 and 1984. Iranian Journal of Public Health, 37(1), 1-7.
        3. Hoseini, S.A. (2000). Investigation of horizontal expansion of Mashhad city in recently decades and the effect of it on water and soil sources. Master Thesis of Geogeraphy, Tehran University, Iran.
        4. Ichinose, T., Shimodozno, K. & Hanaki, K. (1999). Impact of anthropogenic heat on urban climate in Tokyo. Atmospheric Environment. 33, 3897-909.
        5. Jacob, D. J. & Winner, D. A. (2009). Effect of climate change on air quality, Atmospheric Environment, 43, 51-63.
        6. Jahangiri, Z. (1997). The two-dimensional numerical mol among scale of Tehran urban mixed layer, Master Thesis. Tehran University, Iran. (In Farsi).
        7. Jones, T.S., Liang, A.P. & Kilbourne, E.M. (1982). Morbidity and mortality associated with the July 1980 heat wave in St. Louis and Kansas City. Journal of the American Medical Association, 247, 3327-3331.
        8. Karl, T.R., Diaz, H.F. & Kukla, G. (1988). Urbanization: Its detection and effect in the United States climate record. Journal of Climate, 11(8), 1099-1123.
        9. Lin, T.P., Matzarakis, A. & Hwang, R.L. (2010). Shading effect on long-term outdoor thermal comfort. Building and Environment, 45(1), 213-21.
        10. Luber, G. & McGeehin, M. (2008). Climate change and extreme heat events. American journal of preventive medicine, 35(5), 429-435.
        11. Marques, M. L. & Peinado, A. (2009). The impact of vegetation on outh door therma comfort on urban space. In: Proceeding the seventh International Conference on Urban Climate, Yokohama, Japan.
        12. Matzarakis, A. (2001). Climate and Bioclimatic Information for the Tourism in Greece. Proceedings of the 1st International workshop on climate, tourism and recreation. International society of biometeorology, commission on climate, tourism and recreation. http://www/mif.uni-freiburg.de/rayman
        13. Matzarakis, A., Mayer, H. & Iziomon, M.G. (1999). Applications of a Universal Thermal Index: Physiological Equivalent Temperature. International Journal of Biometeorology, 43, 78-84.
        14. Matzarakis, A., Rutz, F. & Mayer, H. (2006). Modelling the thermal bioclimate in urban areas with the RayMan Model. Passive and Low Energy Architecture, 2, 449-453.
        15. Matzarakis, A., Rutz, F. & Mayer, H. (2007). Modelling radiation fluxes in simple and complex environments-application of the RayMan model. International Journal of Biometeorology, 51, 323-334.
        16. Mayer, M. & Matzarakis, A. (2006). Impact of street trees on the thermal comfort of people in summer, A case study in Freiburg (Germany). Merchavim, 6, 285-300.
        17. Mohammad, K., Hoseini, M. & Noorbala, A. (2007). The growth trend of 2-18 years old children and adolescents during one decade (1991-2000). Hakim Medical Journal, 9(1), 1-10.
        18. National weather service, Retrieved Auguest 1, 2013 from http://www.weatherbase.com.
        19. Ng, E. (2009). Policies and Technical Guidelines for Urban Planning of High Density Cities–Air Ventilation Assessment (AVA) of Hong Kong, Building and Environment, 44, 1478-1488.
        20. Nowak, D.J. (1995). Trees pollute? A TREE” explains it all. In: Kollin, C., Barratt. M. (eds) Proceedings of the 7th National Urban Forest Conference, American Forests, Washington, DC, pp. 28-30.
        21. Onishi, A., Cao, X., Ito, T., Shi, F. & Imura, H. (2010). Evaluating the potential for urban heat islands mitigation by greening parking lots. Urban Forestory & Urban Greening, 9, 323-332.
        22. Ramezanifar, B. & Dokhtmohammad, S. (2009). Understanding the spatial scope of creating of the urban heat island in the city of Rasht. Research and Urban Planning, 1(1), 49-64. (In Farsi).
        23. Robitu, M., Musy, M. Inard, C. & Groleau, D. (2006). Modeling the influence of vegetation and water pond on urban microclimate. Solar Energy, 80,435-47.
        24. Santamouris, M. (2006). Environmental Design of Urban Buildings: An Integrated Approach, Earth scan in the UK and USA, pp. 352.
        25. Shashua-Bar, L. & Hoffman, M.E. (2004). Quantitative evaluation of passive cooling of the UCL microclimate in hot regions in summer, case study: urban streets and courtyards with trees. Building and Environment, 39, 1087-1099.
        26. Spangenberg, J., Shinzato, P., Johansson, E. & Duarte, D. (2008). Simulation of the influence of vegetation on microclimate and thermal comfort in the city of São Paulo. Revista SBAU, Piracicaba, 3(2), 1-19.
        27. Streiling, S. & Matzarakis, A. (2003). Influence of single and small clusters of trees on the bioclimate of a city: a case study. Journal of Arboriculture, 26(6), 309-316.
        28. Taha, H. (1997). Urban climates and heat islands: albedo, evapotransipiration and anthropogenic heat. Energy and Buildings, 25, 99-103.
        29. Toy, S. & Yilmaz, S. (2010). Thermal sensation of people performing recreational activities in shadowy environment: a case study from Turkey. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 101, 329-343.
        30. Toy, S., Yilmaz, S. & Yilmaz, H. (2007). Determination of bioclimatic comfort in three different land uses in the city of Erzurum, Turkey. Building and Environment, 1315-1318.
        31. Zolfaghari, H. (2008). Determine an appropriate schedule for truism in Tabriz by Physiological equivalent temperature and Predicted Mean Vote indexes. Geographical researches, 62, 129-141. (In Farsi).


Iranian Journal of Horticultural Science
Volume 45, Issue 4 - Serial Number 4
Spring 2015
Pages 461-473

  • Receive Date 07 September 2013
  • Revise Date 29 January 2014
  • Accept Date 12 February 2014