Combining environmental and social dimensions in the typomorphological study of urban resilience to heat stress

• Published in: Sustainable cities and society Vol. 83; p. 103971
• Main Authors: Eldesoky, Ahmed Hazem, Gil, Jorge, Pont, Meta Berghauser
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2022
• Subjects: Heat stress; Local climate zone (LCZ); Social interaction; Typomorphology; Urban form; Urban resilience; Urban form; Heat stress; Social interaction; Typomorphology; Urban resilience; Local climate zone (LCZ)
• ISSN: 2210-6707; 2210-6715
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2022.103971

•A new approach is proposed for typomorphological research on heat-stress resilience.•Urban form influences social conditions associated with heat-stress resilience.•A relevant set of urban form characteristics and measures are identified.•A typomorphological classification is developed using a GIS- and ML-based method.•Urban heat-resilience planning and design decision-making can be better informed. Over the past years, cities have become more prone to extreme and frequent heatwaves. In this regard, urban form plays an important role and several typomorphological classifications have been developed to describe the urban form characteristics that can exacerbate heat stress and influence people's health and comfort negatively (i.e. the environmental dimension of heat-stress resilience). Nevertheless, evidence from past heatwave disasters indicates that other urban form characteristics, not included in existing typomorphological classifications, can significantly affect heat-stress resilience by influencing the conditions of social interaction and the state of social ties and solidarities in urban neighborhoods (i.e. the social dimension). Therefore, this paper proposes a broader approach combining the aforementioned environmental and social dimensions in the classification of urban form types; and demonstrates its application in a real-world case by developing a data-driven typomorphological classification that complements existing ones with the missing social dimension. The results showed the possibility of numerically identifying neighborhood types that, through distinct urban form characteristics, have different potentials for enhancing the social dimension of heat-stress resilience. This has direct planning and design relevance as the quantifiable characteristics of these types can be translated into guidelines/rules and incorporated into local regulations/codes.