Microclimate & Urban Form
- Cities create their own microclimate domes and have unique:
- Temperature ranges
- Wind patterns
- Clouds and precipitation rates
- Pollution
- Urban microclimates vary according to urban areas’ size, shape and location
- There are a number of causes, some of which are:
- Changes to land surface; concrete, brick and tarmac
- Cities have fewer trees than surrounding rural areas. Trees shade the ground, preventing heat from the Sun being absorbed
- Dark rooftops and dark pavement absorb more solar radiation
- Tall buildings reflect and absorb sunlight
- Cars engines and factory exhaust produce heat
- Fewer plants in urban settings mean that less evapo-transpiration occurs, a process that cools the air
- Poor building insulation means release of heat at night
- Within these microclimate domes, there are two levels:
- Urban canopy - processes act in the spaces between buildings below roof level
- Urban boundary - processes acting above roof level and extends downwind as a plume into the surrounding rural areas
- Patterns of precipitation and air quality are extended to immediate areas via the prevailing winds
