Street design scenarios using vegetation for sustainable thermal comfort in Erzurum, Turkey

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 3672 - 3693
• Main Authors: Yilmaz, Sevgi, Mutlu, Başak Ertem, Aksu, Ayşegül, Mutlu, Emral, Qaid, Adeb
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Air temperature; Aquatic Pollution; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Canyons; Cities; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecosystem; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental Health; Environmental science; Humans; Research Article; Road design; Seasons; Streets; Summer; Temperature; Thermal comfort; Thermosensing; Turkey; Urban areas; Urbanization; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Winter; Turkey; Cities; ENVI-met; Green scenario; Outdoor thermal comfort; Street design; Winter cities
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-10555-z

Urbanization models that do not comply with the planning criteria are affecting human lives. In urban areas, street trees have positive contributions to the ecosystem and human thermal comfort. In this study, the thermal comfort of the main streets that connect people to each other and provide access and transportation has been thermally explored. Cumhuriyet Street, which is one of the vibrant streets in Erzurum, was selected as a case study scenario in the winter and summer periods in 2018 by using the ENVI-met V. 4.4.2 winter model. A different green scenario is proposed, and the best thermal comfort scenario in both seasons is determined. The results show that, in the summer period, the air temperature of the greener street scenario is about 1.0 °C cooler than the existing condition and about 2.0 °C warmer in the winter period. Physiological equivalent temperature (PET) value was better in narrow canyon streets in winter months, but in wide canyon streets in summer months. The green scenarios of wide canyon streets positively affect the outdoor thermal comfort in both seasons. These results clearly imply that green streets are an appropriate strategy for city streets that suffer from discomfort levels in cold winter and hot summer periods. It has been concluded that it is possible to increase thermal comfort through improvement in the open space in street and more suitable plant preferences for livable urbanization. Planning streets in a new city characterized by summer and winter seasons should take into consideration an accurate decision for providing a thermal comfort level and healthy urbanization.