Page 354 - Çevre Şehir İklim İngilizce - Sayı 4

Suggestions For the Parametrization of Urban Characteristics to
Increase the Climate Resilience of Cities in Türkiye

duration and intensity of sunshine, the number of cloudy and clear days in the
region where the cities are established, may vary depending on local weather
conditions and also other factors. Local meteorological conditions affect the
heat exchange processes and the balance of incoming and outgoing solar
radiation on urban surfaces (WMO 2023).
The effect of urban form: Physical elements that define urban morphology
and form include the characteristics such as building and street features,
open spaces, parcels and structural density. In this context, physical elements
which are influential on urban climates, such as street patterns, building
forms and scales, settlement patterns, open and green space systems,
are the main elements of morphological analysis. These elements are also
affected by the socioeconomic and cultural structure (Sınmaz and Özdemir
2016). The construction materials used (asphalt, building coverings, etc.),
urban geometry (settlement of 3D structures/buildings - site selection, urban
canyon) and urban functions (industry, housing, etc.) are the factors that affect
the heat balance in the urban environment because of their albedo and
heat retention capacity. Compared to rural areas, cities have larger surfaces
on which sunlight is absorbed or reflected, due to their built-up surfaces
(Stewart and Oke, 2012). Vertically rising building surfaces in cities create extra
surfaces, which leads to increased exposure to shortwave solar radiation. Sky
View Factor is quite low in cities (Zeng et al 2018), which prevents the loss of
long-wave radiation reflected and causes extra heating. Again, due to the
canyon geometry created by high-rise buildings (Oke, 1981), air movements in
cities slow down and heat transport by turbulence / advection decreases. The
roughness of urban surfaces (presence of high-rise buildings) has the effect
of limiting horizontal (advective) air movements and breaking strong winds
coming from outside. Therefore, cities have windless weather. The factors
affecting the elements of climate arising from urban form can be categorised
into three groups: urban fabric (it stores more heat during the day and
releases it at night), urban surface geometry (with its complex 3-dimensional
forms, it reduces the sky view factor and ground heat loss due to building and
street facades) and urban imperviousness (it hinders the accumulation and
evaporation of groundwater that must evaporate, and ensures that the latent
heat that must be lost by evaporation from the environment is present in the
environment as sensible heat; WMO 2023).
The effect of human activities: It is known that greenhouse gases
and particulate matter generated as a result of energy production and
consumption activities arising from production and living activities (industry,
housing, transport) in cities disrupt the urban atmospheric properties and
cause extra warming (anthropogenic heat) by retaining more long-wavelength

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