Urban Form and Thermally Comfortable Pedestrian Streetscapes in the Post-COVID Mendoza, Argentina

SOSA, MARÍA BELÉN; CORREA, ERICA N.; CANTÓN, M. ALICIA

New York

Simposio; Simposio; International Perspectives on the Future of Architecture and Urbanism in the Post-COVID Age; 2021

The Epidemic Urbanism Initiative (EUI)

Since the pandemic the way to use outdoor spaces in cities has changed. The walkabledistance to daily activities is a commodity that not always has been contemplated by cityshapers. A well-design streetscape that considers, beyond other factors, the microclimaticconditions of a city can help to promote and increase the walkability. In this sense, urban formresults a powerful tool to achieve more livable communities in the post-COVID age.Particularly in arid zones, where the extreme weather conditions in summer decrease the useof outdoor spaces. In Mendoza Metropolitan Area, our research group at the INAHE Argentina, has developed a series of urban design proposals, at neighborhood scale, in orderto reduce the outdoor air temperature in the summer season. The design proposals havecombined three strategies to reduce urban warming: urban form, albedo, and trees. Theurban form strategy considers neighborhood pattern, street and sidewalk width, streetorientation, and building height. The albedo strategy improved the values of the exposedmaterials. And the tree strategy consider the implantation distance and the forestallmagnitude. The air temperature was obtained by simulations in ENVI-met software adjustedwith in-situ microclimatic data from three neighborhoods in Mendoza. The results shown it ispossible improve the outdoor thermal conditions, increase the walkability and reduce the carand public transport dependency by applying proper design strategies. But the biggestchallenge, in order to improve outdoor thermal conditions, is to promote and generate urbanplanning regulations adapted to a regional scale.