Efficient Use Of Squares in Winter Cities With ENVI-met Analysis and The Effects On Thermal Comfort

Abstract

With the Covid-19 epidemic, open landscape areas have become more preferred instead of indoor spaces in cities. Outdoor use is related to whether the spaces are comfortable or not. The more comfortable the outdoor spaces are in terms of thermals, the more intensive its use. Erzurum city is a winter city and is in Dsb (winters are cold and rainy, summers are dry and hot) climate class. It has a very hot and dry climate in summer due to its high altitude, and a very harsh and cold climate in winter. Havuzbaşi City Square, which is one of the most used squares in Erzurum city center, was chosen as the working area and 4 alternatives were prepared with portable landscape designs. Most of the studies are focused on a single season, and both winter (January 2017) and summer (July 2017) seasons were evaluated in this study. In this context, ENVI-met analysis was made for the current situation and 4 different scenarios for both summer and winter months. In the climate analyzes made, air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT), Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) indexes were evaluated for 14:00, the hottest hour of the day. As a result of the evaluations, It has been revealed that city squares should not only have hard floors, but also green areas and other landscape design elements should be included in the squares. In addition, Alternative 4, which is a collective landscape design area in the middle of the square, gave the best results, increasing the average PET value to 0,3 ℃ for January and reducing 2,8 ℃ for July. As a result, thermal comfort increases as green space and landscape design elements are used in today's city squares.