THERMAL COMFORT IN FORESTED URBAN CANYONS OF LOW BUILDING DENSITY. AN ASSESSMENT FOR THE CITY OF MENDOZA, ARGENTINA

ERICA CORREA; M. ANGÉLICA RUIZ; ALICIA CANTÓN; GRACIELA LESINO

BUILDING AND ENVIRONMENT

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Año: 2012

0360-1323

This research is the first to assess the influence of three tree species in road channels of Mendoza Metropolitan Area (MMA) in Argentina. The assessment of the thermal comfort in oasis cities of hot dry climates like MMA is crucial for a bioclimatic urban design that includes the contributions made by green structures. The paper evaluates outdoor thermal comfort in nine cases by applying the COMFA (Comfort Formula) method. It measures the behavior of low building density in conjunction with the widths of the road channels (30 m, 20 m and 16 m) and the Platanus ecerifolia, Morus elba and Fraxinus excelsior tree species. The final goal was to know the combinations that achieve the better thermal behavior that also minimizes both energy consumption and pollution. New discussions about how the form of a city influences its sustainability have in turn promoted that planners and experts seek that human settlements start to function more sustainably. This research goes in this direction too, as it has explored a low building density frame to propose the best configuration that improves thermal comfort in road channels as well as cooling in an oasis city of dry land in Argentina.