The aim of this presentation is to explain the German VDI-guideline 3787 part II and to apply it exemplarily to different urban microclimates.
Information about single meteorological parameters such as air temperature is not sufficient for many purposes in urban climatology if properties of urban microclimates are to be characterized or climatic effects of planned changes in land use or urban spaces are to be estimated. Urban planning should take into account both the health and well-being of people living and working in different urban areas. Therefore, urban microclimates have to be assessed in a physiologically significant manner. This task is an essential part of urban human-biometeorology which deals with the effects of weather, climate and air pollution on the human organism. The physiologically relevant assessment of urban microclimates requires the use of methods including threshold values and guide numbers developed in human-biometeorology.
In Germany, these methods are at present standardized in the guideline 3787 part II "Methods for the Human-biometeorological Assessment of Climate and Air Quality for Urban and Landscape Planning" which is edited by an interdisciplinary group of meteorologists, planners and environmental physicians and published by the Association of German Engineers ("Verein Deutscher Ingenieure" VDI).
Section 1 of the VDI-guideline 3787 part II contains methods for the human-biometeorologically relevant assessment of urban microclimates' thermal component. In modern human-biometeorology, assessing the thermal component of urban microclimates means the interpretation of the human energy balance equation with its energy fluxes and physiological parameters. Thermal indeces PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PET (Physiological Equivalent Temperature) which are recommended in section 1 of the VDI-guideline 3787 part II in order to assess the stationary thermal environment are based on different models for the human energy balance. For the assessment of the instationary thermal environment, VDI-guideline 3787 part II section 1 recommends the use of the human energy balance model IMEM.
The application of section 1 of the VDI-guideline 3787 part II will be demonstrated by field studies in different urban structures and bioclimate maps.