Abstract
This contribution explains and summarizes the latest findings on the positive and negative effects of greenery at the street level. The LES-based PALM modeling system was used for simulations on a previously validated domain. Dense planting of trees can improve thermal comfort by decreasing thermal comfort indices up to 15 °C, surface temperature reduction can even reach several tens of degrees. Air temperature drop is an order of magnitude lower, specifically around 1 °C. Their effect is mostly local, effects in their surroundings were found only in case of air temperature. Dense tree planting close to heavy traffic roads could increase the relative daily-averaged concentration of PM2.5 by more than 30%. The method of planting plays an important role; one row of trees in the middle of the street (+7.5%) has a different effect than two rows on their sides (+18.6%). The hourly averaged maximum concentrations, typically in times of morning and afternoon peak, can increase from 50% to 300%. The increase is dependent on the intensity of traffic or other local emission sources in the planned planting sites, as well as on the quantity, location, and characteristics of the planted greenery.
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Acknowledgments
The terrain-mapping campaign of building properties was co-financed by the Strategy AV21 project “City as Lab of changes”, financed by the Czech Academy of Sciences. The PALM simulations, and pre- and postprocessing were performed on the HPC infrastructure of the Institute of Computer Science of the Czech Academy of Sciences (ICS), supported by the long-term strategic development financing of the ICS (RVO:67985807). This work was supported by project TURBAN (TO01000219; TURBAN – Turbulent-resolving urban modeling of air quality and thermal comfort) supported by Norway Grants and Technology Agency of the Czech Republic. Some preparation and testing simulations were done on HPC infrastructure of IT4I, which was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic through the e-INFRA CZ (ID:90140).
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Geletič, J. et al. (2024). Complex Micro-meteorological Effects of Urban Greenery in an Urban Canyon: A Case Study of Prague-Dejvice, Czech Republic. In: Stefanakis, A., Oral, H.V., Calheiros, C., Carvalho, P. (eds) Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water. Circular Economy and Sustainability. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_22
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