UP Winter School

Scope

The course aims at providing the participants in-depth knowledge on the latest advances in the field of climate science, building aerodynamics, meteorology, urban microclimate and water management, human physiology, and their application in urban design. Furthermore, the idea is to bring the participants in contact with leading researchers in the field, to provide for a constructive and open dialogue and to incite collaborations between theorists, modelers and experimentalists at an international level.

Key topics and focus of the Urban Physics Winter School

The Urban Physics Winter School has three focal points, namely (1) providing the necessary background knowledge, new insights and advances on the urban and local climate system, (2) presenting the necessary experimental and numerical tools to assess the urban microclimate and (3) assessing the impact of a modification of the microclimate and the possible countermeasures.

1. The global and urban climate system across the scales.

We address the latest insights from the IPCC regarding the climate system and the processes which affect its state. This involves a discussion on water, air and carbon cycles and the way how these are intertwined. We also provide some basics of meteorology and illustrate by means of results from a field campaign how boundary layers are affected in urban environments. Of direct interest in urban physics is the neighborhood and street canyon scale, where complex physical mechanism interact, such as air flow by wind and radiation, solar and thermal radiation exchanges, shadowing, rain, heat and moisture transport in urban materials including evaporative cooling, vegetation and water bodies. The smallest scale considered is the human being with its physiology, health and comfort assessment.

2. Tools to assess the microclimate

We present both the experimental and numerical techniques to analyze various aspects of the urban climate, such as the wind flow, heat and moisture transport and radiation exchange. Attention is given to the way in which these models are validated and linked. This results in tools to perform detailed urban microclimate assessment at all the important scales. Special attention is given to field measurements and experiments in wind and water tunnels.

3. Impact of the urban climate and countermeasures

Starting from human physiology, we discuss wind and thermal comfort as well as heat stress, and we present the various means to alter the comfort sensation, such as varying the urban morphology, evapo-transpirative cooling, and changing the albedo of the urban surfaces or providing shading.

The course covers the full range, starting from general lectures on climate change, urban meteorology and hydrology, over urban climate modelling by means of CFD and wind/water tunnel, towards applications such as wind and thermal comfort, and influence of vegetation and moisture exchange on the urban and local heat islands.

Throughout the course, we provide numerous practical applications, at different scales and in different disciplines. We will focus on human comfort, air quality, and the heat island effect, but other fields like urban water management, building performance and durability, will also be touched upon. All selected applications have in common that they are taken from daily life, and hence, have been experienced – consciously or unconsciously – by all participants. Therefore they can easily grasp the idea and take the step from theory to practice.