Avenidas Novas of Lisbon

From now on we will be publishing not only examples of our own work, but also interesting projects or case studies using the ENVI-met microclimate model. I start today with a project of the Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences of the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa that was analysed by Caio Frederico E Silva, Teresa Santos, and José António Tenedório.

In 2016, the Lisbon City Hall has initiated the requalification of several public spaces within the city. In this context, the Universidade NOVA de Lisboa developed research to evaluate the impact of the City Hall project in the city of Lisbon, more specifically, in “Avenidas Novas Neighbourhoods.”

The main project goal was to provide the citizens with less noise, more spaces to walk, comfortable sidewalks and lowered crosswalks for people with reduced mobility, more green areas, places for esplanades and bike lanes. Therefore, this work evaluated the effect of replacing roads with new trees and green areas in the thermal comfort of the surrounding urban area.

The assessment of the urban requalification project was evaluated using ENVI-met (before and after the requalification project):

There was a reduction of up to 3 degrees Celsius.
There was an increment to the relative humidity of the air of 10%.
In addition, there was a slight reduction in natural ventilation all day from 3.5 to 2.5 m/s due to the barrier caused by the treetops.
Vegetation (plus 26%) is therefore confirmed as a key element when designing comfortable urban spaces.
Many urban requalifications have impacts on the local climate. These simulations show the potential improvements in urban comfort resulting from an urban planning intervention.

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