Assessment of Thermal Comfort Conditions in Public Spaces of a Densifying Urban Business District

A newly introduced master plan in the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv, Israel calls for the extreme densification of an intensively renovated business district. The present study aims at assessing the existing thermal comfort conditions experienced by pedestrians in this urban district during the hot humid Mediterranean summer season, and predicting future conditions under various construction scenarios. Micro-climatic monitoring was conducted in the summer of 2019, and collected data served as the basis for an evaluation of the thermal environment using the Index of Thermal Stress (ITS). Future scenarios were modelled by conducting a series of sensitivity analyses. Findings from the modelling study highlight the complex and often contradictory effects of high-rise buildings, which deeply shade the narrow streets between them and thus lower surface temperature and overall radiant heat gain, but may also increase air temperature and restrict ventilation by reducing wind speed. Outdoor summer conditions are therefore expected to be thermally stressful, and limited space for green infrastructure suggests the need for creative solutions. Assisting planners and decision-makers with such challenges in densifying business districts is vital, since a more amenable outdoor environment is one of the keys to sustaining urban life within a destabilized global climate.