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Numerous cities face the serious problems of rapid urbanization and climate change, especially in recent years. Among all cities, Wuhan is one of the most affected by these changes, accompanied by the transformation of water surfaces into urban lands and the decline of natural ventilation. This study investigated the impact of surface urban heat island enlargement (SUHI) and block morphology changes in heat balance. Accordingly, the interactive impact of building diversity with major building forms (low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise) on thermal balance and microclimate changes under the influence of urban land expansion at the residential block scale was studied. To investigate the heat balance changes by air temperature intensification and air movement reduction, a long-term and field observational analysis (1980–2018) coupled with computational fluid dynamic simulation (CFD) was used to evaluate the impact of building diversity on thermal balance. Outcomes show that urban heat island intensity (UHII) increased by 2 °C when water surfaces in urban areas decreased; consequently, there was a deterioration in the air movement to alleviate UHII. Thus, the air movement declined substantially with UHII and SUHI enlargement, which, through increased urban surfaces and roughness length, will become worse by 2020. Furthermore, the decline in air movement caused by the transformation of urban water bodies cannot contribute to the heat balance unless reinforced by the morphology of the urban blocks. In the design of inner-city blocks, morphological indicators have a significant impact on microclimate and heat balance, where increasing building density and plot ratio will increase UHII, and increasing water surfaces will result in an increase in urban ventilation. Lastly, a substantial correlation between air temperature and relative humidity was found, which, together with the block indicators, can help control the air temperature and adjust the urban microclimate.

Improving solar availability in urban blocks is vital to promoting energy conservation and emissions reduction. However, there are very few studies on the impact of block morphology on solar energy availability in high-density cities based on the particularities of climate and solar energy resources in severe cold regions at higher latitudes. This study took 434 block models generated through seven orientation conditions of 62 residential blocks in Harbin, China, as its research object. Through numerical simulations and statistical analysis, it revealed the quantitative relationship between block morphology and the availability of active photovoltaic and solar thermal collector technologies and passive thermal heating technologies. The results show that active solar technology has the highest availability in multi-story enclosed residential blocks, and passive thermal heating has the highest availability in the multi-high-level mixed-row type. The south façade of the building has the greatest active and passive solar availability. The overall active solar availability of the residential block is significantly negatively correlated with the mean building height, floor area ratio, and volume area ratio; it is significantly positively correlated with site coverage and the standard deviation of the building height. Controlling the block’s orientation between 15° south by west and 15° south by east can increase the active solar availability of the façade. This study provides a reference and evaluation basis for the sustainable planning and design of high-density cities in severely cold regions.

The urban thermal environment poses a significant challenge to public health and sustainable urban development. Conventional pre-defined classification schemes, such as the Local Climate Zone (LCZ) system, often fail to capture the highly heterogeneous structure of complex urban areas, thus limiting their applicability. This study introduces a novel framework for urban thermal environment analysis, leveraging multi-source data and eXplainable Artificial Intelligence to investigate the driving mechanisms of Land Surface Temperature (LST) across various urban form types. Focusing on the area within Beijing’s 5th Ring Road, this study employs a K-Means clustering algorithm to classify urban blocks into nine distinct types based on their building morphology. Subsequently, an eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) model, coupled with the SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method, is utilized to analyze the non-linear impacts of ten selected driving factors on LST. The findings reveal that: (1) The Compact Mid-rise type exhibits the highest annual average LST at 296.59 K, with a substantial difference of 11.29 K observed between the hottest and coldest block types. (2) SHAP analysis identifies the Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) as the most significant warming factor across all types, while the Sky View Factor (SVF) plays a crucial cooling role in high-rise areas. Conversely, road density (RD) shows a negative correlation with LST in Open Low-rise areas. (3) The influence of urban form is twofold: increased building height (BH) can induce warming by trapping heat while simultaneously providing a cooling effect through shading. (4) The impact of land use functional zones on LST is significantly modulated by urban form, with temperature differences of up to 2 K observed between different functional zones within compact block types. The analytical framework proposed herein holds significant theoretical and practical implications for achieving fine-grained thermal environment governance and fostering sustainable development in the context of global urbanization.

Understanding the influence of urban morphology on Land Surface Temperature (LST) is essential for urban planning, development, and mitigating the urban heat island effect. Leveraging high-resolution remote sensing data, this study systematically extracted 64 2D urban morphological parameters (UMPs) and 28 3D UMPs, along with their corresponding summer and winter LST data, at both the grid level (using a 30 m × 30 m grid as the minimum unit) and the block level (using an urban block as the minimum unit). The 2D UMPs were derived from landscape indices of land cover, while the 3D UMPs included 3D building-related UMPs (BUMPs) and tree-related UMPs (TUMPs). Ultimately, multiple statistical methods were employed to investigate the complex mechanisms through which these 2D and 3D UMPs influence LST across summer and winter. This study showed the following results: (1) Most 2D and 3D UMPs significantly correlated with LST in both seasons at the grid/block levels, with stronger correlations at block level. (2) Stepwise regression revealed that combining 2D and 3D UMPs enhanced LST explanation, achieving R2 = 70.9% (summer) and 65.7% (winter) for the entire area, with consistent results in built-up zones. (3) Relative importance analysis identified 35 (summer) and 28 (winter) influential features, which were ranked as follows: 2D UMPs > 3D BUMPs > 3D TUMPs. This highlights 2D UMPs’ dominance while confirming 3D UMPs’ significance. These findings emphasize the need for integrated 2D and 3D urban design, considering both planar layouts and vertical configurations of buildings/vegetation. This study provides practical guidance for thermal environment mitigation and sustainable urban development through optimized spatial planning.

Settlements serve as the tangible carriers of civilization, with historic urban blocks reflecting distinct cultural attributes that are essential for analyzing settlement types, exploring urban form characteristics, and refining spatial planning ideologies. Thus, this study focuses on the block as the fundamental morphological unit and introduces a structured research methodology from the typo-morphological perspective, comprising the following stages: Block Morphology Quantification, Block Pattern Types Extraction, Settlement Type Division, and Planning Ideology Discussion. This methodology can efficiently enhance the understanding of morphology and planning ideologies of heritage settlements by applying quantitative approaches to clustering settlements based solely on block pattern. For method validation, 37 typical colonial heritage settlements in the Americas is conducted as empirical study through the following process: first, quantifying block morphology; second, identifying block pattern types by K-means clustering; third, applying hierarchical clustering referring to the proportion of block pattern types within each case, resulting in the identification of four categories of “strategic core”, “corridor node”, “resource spot” and “overseas new town”; lastly, three key planning ideologies—“order”, “efficiency” and “practicality”—that shaped these settlements are derived from classification results accordingly. As empirical study result, the effectiveness of classifying heritage settlements using block patterns is validated.

Beijing is a typical traditional city in China, originating from the uniform and conventional grid plan, but transformed diversely, either on purpose or spontaneously. This research took the diversification process of grid blocks as an angle to understand the transformation process of Beijing's urban morphology. It took 194 grid blocks within the 3rd Ring Road of Beijing as research objects. First, the paper proposed a whole view of Beijing's grid blocks by 1) visualizing their construction process, 2) classifying 5 morphological clusters by 7 indicators (Block size, Block shape regularity, Intensity, Coverage, Network density, Plot shape regularity, Standard deviation of plot size), and 3) investigating their distribution. Second, the diversification process of grid blocks was clarified from two layers: the block-boundary layer and the inner-space layer. Finally, the mechanism of block form diversification was clarified by exploring the connections between elements in each layer, and the influence of urban development on block form transformation. The study re-defined the diversification process in a more quantitative way from both time and spatial dimension. It concluded that the diversification is influenced by changes in urban planning principles and locations, and emerged thorough the long-term transformation and re-subdivision. The interaction between the boundary and the inner space stimulates the diversification. And based on these, it concluded with a discussion of limitations and potentials on grid blocks' construction and renovation.

Making cities health-promoting places is an evolving theme. Numerous studies confirm the health-promoting qualities of contact with nature and problems resulting from the deprivation of access to public green spaces. Easy access to safe and inclusive public green spaces is still one of the long-lasting problems of urbanized areas around the globe. It is one of the sustainable development goals, SDGs, proposed by the UN: 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Point 11.7 By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities. The major question is how to implement this goal in practice and design cities to provide easy access to safe and inclusive public green spaces. One of the important concepts for sustainable urban development is the urban block, Macrolot, coined by Christian de Portzamparc, which led to the new urban morphology of eco-neighborhoods in France. It combines the traditional, walkable urban grid with the Le Corbusier vision for a healthy modernist city offering daylight, fresh air, and greenery for everyone. Among the advantages of this particular urban morphology are the increased presence of green spaces and possibilities for placemaking. Studying the effects of the urban form of the Macrolot is of great significance for sustainable urban development. In this study, five neighborhoods—three eco-neighborhoods from France designed according to the open urban block, Macrolot urban morphology, ZAC Massena, ZAC Trapeze, and ZAC Clichy-Batignolles, and two award-winning developments from Poland, Riverview and Ostoja Wilanów—were chosen as case studies. The application of the Macrolot concept to sustainable urban planning and design and the possibilities for operationalization of the SDG—11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable—are discussed. This study offers valuable evidence to inform urban planning and design.

The urban heat island (UHI) and its intensity is one of the phenomena that are of determining importance for the comfort of living in cities and their sustainable development in the face of deepening climate change. The study is objectively difficult due to the large dynamics like land cover and the considerable diversity of land use patterns in urban areas. Most of the frequently used research practice approaches provide information with problematic spatial and temporal resolution, making them difficult to apply for sustainable urban planning purposes. This paper proposes to calculate SUHI intensity as the difference between the temperature of a given point within a city and the average minimum temperature of the land cover class with the lowest surface temperatures within the same urban area. The study presents the results of the application of thermal photogrammetry based on the use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), combined with geographic information systems (GIS), in the study of surface urban heat island intensity (SUHI), at the local level for the largest housing complex in Bulgaria–Lyulin district of the capital of Sofia city. The studies were carried out during a heat wave in July 2023. A difference of 16.5 °C was found between locations with SUHI occurrence and of the peripheral non-build and natural land cover types within the urbanized area. The information benefits of locally addressed data and their direct applicability are discussed to support decision-making processes in the planning and management of urban areas, including their climate adaptation and sustainable development.

The research purpose of this work is guiding the spatial morphological design of blocks via relevant indicators to realize suitable wind environments. In doing so, it is necessary to find the most suitable indicator types and value ranges for each urban spatial morphology. At present, most of the relevant research has been based on the numerical simulation of ideal block shapes and rarely proposes results based on actual block types, which often tend to be complex environments. Therefore, this paper firstly presents a theoretical speculation on the main factors influencing indicator effectiveness via analyzing physical significance and formulating principles for each indicator. These speculations are verified via wind environment measurement and statistical analysis, indicating that porosity (P0) can be used as an important indicator to guide the design of block wind environments in the case of deep street canyons, while frontal area density (λF) can be used as a supplement in shallow street canyons with no height differences. Finally, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to quantify the impact of block height difference and street canyon depth on λF and P0, thereby finding suitable types of urban form and value ranges for λF and P0. This paper provides a feasible wind environment index system for urban designers.

Research simultaneously examining building energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort within urban environments remains limited. Few studies have delved into the sensitivity of design parameters based on building energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlations between urban morphological design parameters and performance indicators, focusing on building energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort (UTCI), across different urban block layouts in hot-humid regions, like Guangzhou. By establishing six fundamental morphological models—three individual unit layouts and three group layouts—the research explores both control and descriptive parameters through extensive simulation studies. Scatter plot visualizations provide insights into the impacts of various design parameters on energy consumption and UTCI, facilitating a comprehensive analysis of trends and quantitative relationships. Additionally, the study conducts sensitivity analyses on design parameters under different layout conditions to highlight their influences on target performance indicators. The findings reveal common trends, such as the significant impacts of plan dimensions and the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) on energy efficiency and outdoor comfort, as well as differential patterns, such as the varying sensitivities of the Shape Factor (S/V) and the Sky View Factor (SVF), across individual and collective layouts. Ultimately, this study offers a nuanced understanding of urban block morphology’s role in creating sustainable, comfortable, and energy-efficient urban environments, providing valuable guidelines for urban form design in hot-humid climates.