International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Due to recent global climate changes and higher concentrations of populations around the world, cities have been more frequently experiencing phenomena such as heat waves and tropical nights during the summer. This can be said to be the result of the relationship between air temperature increase and thermal comfort degradation. Research on this subject is significance for their impact on the quality of life for urban dwellers as well as for their recommendations on sustainability for future generations. This study selected three analysis areas of the urban thermal environment that have been exacerbated in Seoul. Changes in the present conditions of urban thermal environment and in urban development form and density were analyzed in relation to temperature and thermal comfort. As a result, the temperature of the summer was found to have decreased by an average of 1°C while PET also decreased by an average of 0.5 °C when building coverage ratio(BCR) was reduced by 10%, even though the floor area ratio(FAR) increased due to the changes in urban development form and density. In other words, the building coverage ratio had a greater influence on the urban thermal environment than the floor area ratio, and the reduction of the building coverage ratio improved the urban thermal environment. This was judged to be due to the influence of wind path and building shade caused by changes in form, size, and layout of buildings because of the decrease of building coverage ratio. To improve the urban thermal environment in the future, it is necessary to consider wind path and building shadow when establishing medium- and long-term urban planning. The results of the present study can be used as basic data for spatial decision-making of urban planning when considering improvement of the urban thermal environment.

Index Terms—Urban thermal environment, urban thermal comfort, urban development form and density.

The authors are with the Department of Urban Planning and Engineering, Hanyang University in Seoul, Korea (e-mail: bongchur77@gmail.com, ksoh@hanyang.ac.kr, yeshong@empal.com).

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Cite: B. Park, K. Oh, and S. Hong, "Analysis of the Changes in Urban Thermal Environments Considering Development Densities (FAR and BCR)," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 32-37, 2018.