Schedule

BANGALORE

Sustainable Architecture(s) - Humane Cities
Investigating the Outdoor Thermal comfort for parks in high density urban fabric.
O. Sadhu & R. Raje(2)
2:15 pm - 3:45 pm

Abstract

Population growth and rapid urbanization have exposed our cities to several environmental challenges. Replacing greenery with building construction materials like concrete, glass etc. have led to increased ambient temperatures causing urban heat island in many cities. Such problems are negatively affecting human outdoor thermal comfort especially in public open spaces. While the green cover is being compromised for accommodating larger population, the available green areas are unable to create comfortable environment for public use. This study aims to investigate urban thermal comfort of public parks in Mumbai city. The duration and intensity of the use of an outdoor space is greatly affected by the comfort or discomfort conditions of the area. To understand the micro climate and the thermal stress experienced in the park, meteorological readings like Air temperature, Humidity, wind speed, black globe temperature are recorded. Along with-it questionnaire surveys are performed to record user experience of the park, there preferred clothing and intensity of activities performed on site throughout the day. The qualitative and quantitative assessment will help map the heat stress vulnerability of these parks. The success of any public open space depends on the amount of time people spend at that open space. Since the city’s parks fall short to achieve the benchmark of Urban thermal comfort, this understanding can be applied to re design our parks, using bio climatic landscape design strategies to create thermally comfortable outdoor experience for people and effectively improve the quality of urban living.

Biography

Ar. Richa Raje (First author) is a Landscape Architect and an academician and has been associated with the Department of Landscape at School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal from past three years. Prior to this she has gathered field experience, while working with M/s Prabhakar B Bhagwat on various projects from inception to execution. Her area of focus lies in designing with plant material, site planning and design development for green areas. She is currently pursuing her research on outdoor thermal comfort using landscape strategies, designing outdoor play-spaces as learning environments and creating sustainable urban transformation model for redevelopment. She aims to bridge the gap between academic learning and the profession’s pragmatic constraints. Ar. Ojaswini Sadhu (second author) is currently a student of Masters in Landscape Architecture at School of Planning and Architecture Bhopal. She has completed her Bachelors in Architecture from Smt. Manoramabai Mundle college of Architecture, Nagpur. She has worked as intern at Earthscapes, Ahmedabad for Landscape design Projects. Earlier she had worked as a Junior Architect in a firm based in Mumbai and worked on various Architectural projects.  Her research interest is in designing Public open spaces which

fulfills urban thermal comfort through Bio climatic design Strategies.