Solar Radiation and Urban Wind Effect on Urban Canyon in Hot, Humid Regions

Urban configuration modification is an efficient approach to mitigating Urban Heat Island effect. This study investigates the significant impact of solar radiation and urban wind on microclimate and thermal comfort in the different setting of urban canyon configuration. The Envi-met (V3.1 beta) simulation presents that East-West canyon direction received the worst level of air temperature and meant radiant temperature compared to when the canyon was directed perpendiculars to the wind direction (South East – North West). The finding scientifically demonstrates that in Kuala Lumpur context, with the slow urban wind speed influences, solar radiation plays the significant impact on the microclimate.© 2016. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.Keywords: Solar radiation; urban wind; urban microclimate, urban simulation