The extent of the surface area sunlit is critical for radiative energy exchanges and therefore for a wide range of applications that require urban land surface models (ULSM), ranging from human comfort to weather forecasting. Here a computational demanding shadow casting algorithm is used to assess the capability of a simple single-layer urban canopy model, which assumes an infinitely long rota...

Widespread damage to roofs in hurricanes and other high wind events has highlighted the need for improving the wind performance of roofs, including both new construction and retrofit on existing buildings. Effective and economical methods to mitigate wind effects on roof components are sought to reduce accumulated losses from frequently recurring lowand moderate-intensity events. An experimenta...

[1] Increasing the albedo of urban surfaces has received attention as a strategy to mitigate urban heat islands. Here, the effects of globally installing white roofs are assessed using an urban canyon model coupled to a global climate model. Averaged over all urban areas, the annual mean heat island decreased by 33%. Urban daily maximum temperature decreased by 0.6 C and daily minimum temperatu...

Vaulted or domed roofs have been frequently adopted by builders and architects throughout the Middle East and other hot dry areas. However, the thermal performance of such buildings under hot dry climatic conditions has rarely been quantitatively studied. In this paper, a detailed finite element model for the investigation of the thermal performance of non air-conditioned buildings with vaulted...

Published by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) and issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June 30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Andrew G. Hashimoto, Director/Dean, Cooperative Extension Service/CTAHR, University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa, Honolulu, Hawai‘i 96822. An equal opportunity/affirmative action inst...

Mitigation of the urban heat island (UHI) effect at the city-scale is investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model in conjunction with the Princeton Urban Canopy Model (PUCM). Specifically, the cooling impacts of green roof and cool (white/highalbedo) roof strategies over the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area during a heat wave period (7 June–10 June 2008) are assess...

Reconciling human and non-human use of urban regions to support biological conservation represents a major challenge for the 21st century. The concept of reconciliation ecology, by which the anthropogenic environment may be modified to encourage non-human use and biodiversity preservation without compromising societal utilization, potentially represents an appropriate paradigm for urban conserv...

Current Internet-inspired mapping data are in the form of street maps, orthophotos, 3D models or street-side images and serve to support mostly search and navigation. Yet the only mapping data that currently can really be searched are the street maps via their addresses and coordinates. The orthophotos, 3D models and street-side images represent predominantly “eye candy” with little added value...

The intensification of the Urban Heat Island effect (UHI) is a problem that involves several fields, and new adequate solutions are required to mitigate its amplitude. The construction sector is strictly related with this phenomenon; in particular, roofs are the envelope components subject to the highest solar irradiance, hence any mitigation strategy should start from them and involve their ap...

Rapid urbanization has emerged as the source of many adverse environmental effects and brings cities to a vulnerable situation under future climate challenges. Green roofs are proven to be an effective solution to alleviate these effects by field observations under a wide range of climate conditions. Recent advances in modeling urban land-atmosphere interactions provide a useful tool in capturi...