Future proofing Karachi for Urban Heat Island
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Date
2017-07
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The British University in Dubai (BUiD)
Abstract
"Future proofing cities is one of the most researched and pressing topic of this century due to climate change. This research is focused on Urban Heat Island, one of the many issues faced by the mega city of Karachi, due to climate change. Although Karachi has been faced with this concern for years, however, it was emphasized and highlighted during the recent heat waves of 2015 and 2016. The primary methodology used was simulation using ENVI-Met software to access how the temperatures can be reduced in the city. The factors studied were high albedo roofs, cool pavements and roads, vegetation and a combined approach based on LEEDv4 guidelines. The three locations studied in Karachi were mixed-use, commercial and residential areas of Lyari, Saddar and Korangi Five sets of scenarios were tested for each of these areas; Lyari, Saddar and Korangi. First being base case, which is the existing condition, second for high albedo roofs, followed by cool pavements and roads then vegetation and finally a combined simulation. The combined approach was the most effective in all three cases, followed by vegetation. However, in the case of high rise verses low rise, it was observed that in mid to high rise areas, high albedo was more effective than cool pavements and roads. The combined simulation scenario was the efficient case as it reduced the temperatures by 4.5 to 5.23 °C in Lyari, 1.9 °C in Saddar and 2.5°C to 4.5°C in Korangi.
Keywords: Climate change, Urban Heat Island, high albedo roofs, cool pavements and roads, vegetation, Envi-met
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Keywords
climate change, urban heat island, high albedo roofs, cool pavements and roads, vegetation, Envi-met