Assessment of spatial variations in air temperature in an urban area—applications for planning

The urban climate is dependent on factors such as land use, building geometry and building materials. However climatic variations in the city is also an effect of variations in the natural landscape in situ. It is clear that local climatic differences have an impact on human affairs and is thus important when planning for urban design and localisation, road construction and maintenance, tourism, recreation etc (Lindqvist and Mattsson 1989). For a successful integration of climatology at the comprehensive urban planning level it is thus, as argued by Mills (1999), the relationship between the urban form and climate that is most important. This paper presents results from an ongoing study which aims to assess the spatial variation of temperature in a coastal urban area by field measurements and development of a dynamic climatic map model. The study is focused on the Göteborg urban district which with its about 600 000 inhabitants is the second largest urban area in Sweden. The Göteborg district is a typical "real-world" urban area as it is located by the sea and as the area is dominated by a few broad and large valleys in the north-south and east-west directions. Hourly measurements during one year at 32 temperature stations, spread out in the area, is used in order to analyse the influence of land use, height above sea level and distance from the sea on the temperature pattern at different weather situations and times of the day. Field data is related to the temperature pattern simulated by the dynamic climatic map model and the application of the results in urban planning is discussed.

References: Lindqvist, S., Mattsson, J.O., 1989. Topoclimatic maps for different planning levels: some Swedish examples. Building research and practice, The journal of CIB, No.5, 299-304. Mills, G., 1999. Urban climatology and urban design. Paper presented at the International Conference on Urban Climatology, Sydney 8-12 November, Abstract ICUC12.1