Fourth Symposium on the Urban Environment

5.6

"SAGA-CITES" project: Urban characteristics evaluation through microclimatic parameters measurement. The case study of Marseille and Toulouse french cities

Khrofa Lehtihet, Architecture School of Marseilles, Marseilles, France; and K. Ait-ameur

This research work is undertaken jointly by the laboratories GRECO, the ABC, the LTMU1, the IRPHE2 and the 3Laboratory of Environmental Psychology . This study focuses on energy and microclimate by analyzing the relationship between: - microclimatic measurements, urban physical form indicators and - user's environmental perception and their evaluation. This approach requires collaboration between architects, engineers and social psychologists in order to provide an information resource to assist urban planners.

Only the measurement techniques are discussed here. The aim of this work is to connect physical climatic variables and the principal morphological effects which influence these variations. The objective of the meteorology phases is to determine the most significant morphological characteristics in the variation of the climatic parameters at ground level. At the end, this study expects to relate the climatic parameters to the morphological indicators which describe the typomorphological characteristics of urban spaces. As a result, these indicators will be integrated in a decision making system.

To achieve the objectives stated before, measurements of microclimatic parameters are carried out. This study is conducted in four places: two are located in Marseille and two in Toulouse (France). These urban areas were selected for the various microclimatic effects which they present: diedhral effect, canyon effect, cover green effect, mall effect and stilts effects. To obtain various microclimatic conditions, our investigations have been performed during two seasons: summer and winter. The investigation results are analyzed in order to discover which morphological effects have the greatest influence on microclimatic variations.

1Laboratoire des théories des Mutations Urbaines, Paris. 2Institut de Recherche sur les Phénomènes Hors Equilibre, Marseille. 3Laboratoire de Psychologie de l'Environnement, Paris

Session 5, Urban heat island effect: observations and modelling
Tuesday, 21 May 2002, 8:00 AM-11:00 AM

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