Evaluation of design schemes for urban squares in arid climate cities,Mendoza,Argentina

The design of urban squares in the city of Mendoza,Argentina,is based on aesthetic and landscaping criteria without consider strategies to enhance the benefits that green areas generate on the city's micrometeorological conditions.The paper aims to evaluate different design alternatives with the purpose to determine which proportion and distribution of green and sealed areas contributes to achieve the best conditions in terms of thermal behavior and comfort.ENVI-met software was used to simulate thermal conditions over twenty three scenarios,and COMFA method was employed to determine comfort in the scenarios that show the best thermal behaviour and are representative of current design trends.The results show that the most effective scheme for the memorial squares rehabilitation is the one concentrating 60%of woodlot around a sealed center with an area that does not exceed 20%the square surface.Another effective alternative is the one concentrating 60%of woodlot at the center of the area.These findings highlight the importance of an adequate relation between proportion and distribution of woodlot/sealed areas to improve thermal performance and comfort conditions of open spaces.

Role of local and urban textures in promoting social interactions of residents and emphasizing living centers theory of Christopher Alexander

Local and urban squares play a crucial role in the presence and participation of people and in their interaction promotion.Alexander explained the profound geometric relations and discipline in nature,using the concept of life phenomenon theory and living structures.He believes that humans can revive creatures through creating strong centers and an integrated whole.This study selects Avicenna tomb square and center of Aqajani Beig neighborhood,Hamedan.The main research questions include what the role of Alexander's theory of living centers is in promoting the social interaction in local and urban square and which pattern of Alexander’theory mostly affects social interactions in squares and how the individual factors impact social interactions in local and urban squares.Results reveals that patterns of Alexander^theory are efficient in promoting social interactions in local and urban squares.Individual factors are not effective in this regard,but strong centers and urban square contradictions are more effective in residents social interactions than that of void spaces and strong centers.Architects,planners,and urban designers can apply the results in designing new urban and local squares.

Effects of urban square entry layouts on spatial ventilation under different surrounding building conditions

Effective urban square ventilation is important for the living comfort and health of residents.This research aims to establish some principles of street entry layouts for urban square ventilation optimization.Using computational fluid dynamics(CFD)simulation techniques,two types of street entry squares(two-intersection and four-intersection)were investigated under the effect of surrounding buildings.Three indices—the spatial mean velocity(<V^(*)>),air change rate(ACH)and mean flow rates()through the street entry and square roof—were calculated to quantify the square ventilation performance.The simulation results indicate that the surrounding buildings could influence the square space ventilation.When the surrounding building conditions change to a building coverage ratio of 0.25,theentering through the street entry can be reduced by 35%,and the<V*>within the square decreases by more than 45%.The optimal street entry layout design depends greatly on the wind direction.When the wind direction is perpendicular to the square street entry,the corner oblique-entry layout square shows a better ventilation performance than the other designs.When the wind direction is oblique to the square street entry,the<V^(*)>declines greatly(up to 68%),and the lateral-entry layout design shows the best ventilation performance.