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We are facing an urgent global environmental crisis that requires a reframing of traditional professional and conceptual boundaries within the urban environment. Complex and multidisciplinary issues need complex and multidisciplinary solutions, which result from the collaboration of many different disciplines concerned with the urban environment. A more integrated ecological perspective that recognizes the complexity of urban environments and resituates our ‘artificial’ or human-made world within its natural ecosystem can facilitate this shift towards greater knowledge exchange. C40 Cities case studies provide a framework within which to understand the disciplines and scales encompassed by ecological solutions, while projects at MIT Senseable City Lab and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati highlight how data is used as a tool in driving ecological solutions. The artificial world of sensors, data and networks creates a bridge between the ‘artificial’ and ‘natural’ elements of our urban environments, allowing us to fully understand the present condition, connect city users and decision makers, and better integrate ecological solutions into the built environment.

Temperatures in Mediterranean cities are rising due to the effects of climate change, with a consequent increase in the heat waves frequency. Recent research has shown the tempering potential of semi-outdoor spaces such as courtyards, which are semi-enclosed spaces that are widely used by the users of buildings in Mediterranean cities. International standards addressing thermal comfort parameters provide technical guidelines for indoor spaces only. Expanding this concept, this paper focuses on the potential to extend and interpret the existing calculation models for indoor thermal comfort, EN 16798 and ASHRAE 55, to determine thermal comfort, monitoring two different courtyards in Cordoba, Spain, during both typical summer and heat wave periods. The results show that during the typical summer, the monitored courtyards can reach temperatures up to 8.4 °C cooler than outside. Subsequently can be considered to be in thermal comfort on average for 88% of the time according to EN 16798, and 75% according to ASHRAE 55, which drop to 71% and 52% respectively during heat wave (HW) periods, in spite of increasing thermal gap (TG) up to 13.9 °C. The results are also compared with the PET indicator used for evaluation of outdoor thermal comfort, which provides comparable figures: 81% summer and 73% HW. Implications of implementing passive shading strategies to increase comfort in these transition spaces are also evaluated. The research highlights the thermal potential and usefulness of courtyards in warm climates, so they can ultimately be included in the building analysis as a potentially comfortable and habitable space.

This paper focuses on the analysis of a longitudinal five-year study following the retrofitting and post-occupancy evaluation of a heritage townhouse designed for multi-generation living in Margate. The three-generation family of five adults and one child are renting the council-owned 420m2. The POE confirmed 100% satisfaction and thermal comfort during both winter and summer. The results from the extensive monitoring confirmed the acceptable thermal environment during the free-running mode in the summer, when for a significant amount of time parts of the property were below the Cat II category. The thermal environment in winter was very stable varying from 19.9°C in the basement, to 23.2°C in the third floor living room, while in the non-refurbished property across the square, which was used for comparison, mean temperature was 15°C. The average 5K temperature difference between the two properties highlight the success of the refurbishment, which was sympathetic to the original character of the house, respecting the heritage features.

The paper presents the preliminary work in developing an Urban Albedo Calculator, an empirical model to predict changes in urban albedo in relation to changes in the urban fabric, materials, solar geometry, etc. It investigates experimentally, through a 1:10 scale model a case study in central London, and computationally, through RADAINCE, the impact of urban geometry and materials’ reflectance. Following the successful calibration of the model, the results highlighted the substantial impact of urban materials and their placement on urban albedo, demonstrating that biggest weighting of horizontal ground surfaces in the case of low rise environments. The effect of geometry was investigated through different scenarios, at ground and roof levels, as well as through changes in the H/W ratio. The results demonstrated that increasing the H/W ratio has the most significant impact on urban albedo, with the albedo changes varying under different sky conditions due to the orientation of the blocks.

The urban albedo (UA), defined as the ratio of the reflected to the incoming shortwave radiation at\ud the upper edge of urban canyons, quantifies their ability to reflect solar radiation towards the sky. This research\ud investigates the impact of real-world urban geometries and optical properties of facades and roads materials on\ud the UA and street level microclimate in London. The Indexed Sphere (IVS) algorithm of ENVI-met 4.4.4 is used to\ud compute the UA of several canyon configurations. The accuracy of the IVS algorithm is evaluated against\ud measurements on a 1:10 physical model reproducing the geometry and materials of the case study area. The\ud simulation results show that reflective materials applied to the canyon surfaces are more effective in increasing\ud the UA of canyons with low aspect ratios. The use of reflective materials in urban canyons always increases the\ud amount of reflections at the street level, increasing the mean radiant temperature in most cases. Air\ud temperature is not affected by the canyon’s façades reflectivity while it shows a significant daytime reduction for\ud increased roads’ reflectivity. The results provide preliminary guidelines for the control of UA and the\ud improvement of microclimate in London

Paying particular attention to the relationship between the inhabitants and the physical performance of the environment they occupy and the factors shaping that relationship is believed to be fundamental when conducting building performance researches. This paper follows that approach in examining the management and control of the indoor thermal environment within a sample of socioeconomically distinct households based in Iraqi Kurdistan (KRI). This is undertaken through a close coupling of qualitative and quantitative investigations employing a combination of in situ measurements, observations, and in-depth interviews capturing inhabitant’s behavioural control actions with respect to the performance of their dwellings. The paper tends to develop a type of tentative hypothesis which can help structuring a framework to explore what the questions of thermal comfort and environmental control mean within the residential context of KRI. The investigations reveal how occupants’ engagement in adjusting indoor conditions is shaped by non-thermal factors, mainly socio-economic ones, and so environmental design in such context requires a stronger focus on that.