2020 Volume 85 Issue 778 Pages 965-975
Pedestrians can work comfortably without worrying about UV rays or rain in semi-outdoor spaces inside shopping arcades in urban commercial areas, because wind and rain and solar radiation are blocked by buildings on both sides and covered top with canopy of shopping arcades. On the other hand, it is difficult for wind to pass through the arcades and heat is easily accumulate inside the arcades. So, it is important to consider the improvement of thermal environment in the arcades in summer.
Kumamoto city has been seriously affected by urban heat island phenomena especially in summer same as other major regional urban centers in Japan. In this study, for the improvement of resident’s living environment, three shopping arcades and adjacent city blocks in Kumamoto city center were targeted, and the influence of city blocks’ spatial structure including buildings, parking lots, green spaces etc. upon summer thermal environment inside arcades was evaluated from field measurements and numerical simulations.
The results showed that the spatial structure of both arcades and adjacent city blocks had affected the thermal environment inside arcades. In many time sections, air temperature in the arcades had been lower than in the street with trees. From this it was confirmed that the effect of solar shading by the canopy of the arcades and adjacent city blocks, and the effect of cold air from an adjacent open store. At the same time, it was also confirmed that the importance of the shape of the building and the open space in the adjacent city blocks for improving the heat radiation environment and airflow environment in the arcades.
Furthermore, the subjective reporting survey had conducted upon pedestrians in arcades. As the answers had matched with SET* at living height (1.5m from the ground) in the arcades, it had been made sure that pedestrians’ behavior histories might affect their thermal sensation / thermal comfort / thermal preference.
From these results, it is made sure that even if the thermal environment inside the shopping arcade is not comfortable in summer, it is possible to propose the countermeasures for the arcade with little thermal load for pedestrians by arranging roadside trees in adjacent city blocks to block out solar radiation, and place facilities for pedestrians to take rest and stay at the entrance and inside of the arcade within a few-minute walk, for example.
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