Solar obstruction assessment model for densely forested urban environments

Abstract

Cities display an array of microclimates closely related to the composition of their surfaces and the relationships among their structures. The effect of the shadow cast by a high-rise building is a simple case of this situation. The incidence of the shadow on other buildings or urban spaces can be positive or negative, according to the bioclimatic requirements of the place and season. The understanding of the cause of these effects is key information that helps when planning new urban complexes or refurbishing existing ones. In climates with high space heating demands, precise assessment of the available solar resource is of vital importance. In order to cope with this requirement, a predictive methodology based on the processing of digital images of the sectors to be analysed has been developed. Although there are other computational methods available for this task, they are not adequate to the assessed areas' features, because of the relevant incidence of urban forest in this case.