Review and Critical Analysis of International UHI Studies

areas are dependent on irrigation and abundant water supplies, Phoenix is described as a desert
city with limited water supplies so a trade‐off is created. A model called Local‐Scale Urban
Meteorological Parameterization Scheme (LUMPS) is used to model heat fluxes in urban areas as
a measure of the effectiveness of various heat island mitigation strategies. A number of scenarios
were modeled; industrial, residential with irrigated landscaping and residential with native
desert landscaping. An urban energy balance model was used to simulate temperature and
evaporation under the different mitigation strategies in the different locations. LUMPS uses net
radiation, surface cover, morphometry and standard weather observations to calculate hourly
energy budget components, measured in Wm ‐2 , of latent heat, sensible heat, heat storage and net
radiation. The outputs of LUMPS, latent heat flux, were converted to figures that represent water
loss and sensible heat flux to calculate nighttime temperature cooling rates. LUMPS was also
used to test three urban‐design scenarios; a dense compact city, a more highly vegetated city, and
a desert city with less vegetation and unmanageable soil. LUMPS is a useful model as the data
required for input is fairly simple, however a GIS tool would allow more of a city‐wide approach
[056].
In a study in South East Queensland, Australia, computer simulation of urban heat islands test
the indoor thermal performance of residential dwellings to help future proof the for climate
change. The methodology has three stages; 1. To identify a typical housing model based on
common passive house design techniques and energy rating programs; 2. Successful mitigation
strategies are applied to the residential developments; and 3. Meteorological conditions
associated with UHI are simulated and applied to the housing developments. The simulation
software used to test the impact of temperature of the houses is an industry software called
DEROB‐LTH, this software allows an accurate representation of the building and can provide
accurate analysis on a room by room basis. The software is fed by actual climatic data. Mitigation
was kept separate from the simulation so the strategies were not tested thoroughly [054].
A GIS based model is being developed to predict air temperature trends as a result of different
urban planning approaches. The model will enable planners to test their designs for their
potential impact on urban climate. Data for the model are based on long term field measurements
between 2005–2008. The model can factor pavement area, building areas, wall surface area, green
plot ratio, sky view factor and surface albedo. Another model developed to assist planners is
STEVE (Screening Tool for Estate Environment Evaluation), it is an estate based (fixed point
within an estate) planning tool that can calculate minimum, average and maximum current and
future temperatures based on a planning proposal. STEVE is a web based application making it
more accessible to planners. STEVE was developed as a result of a gap identified between
development of climate based models and their use by non‐scientific community such as
planners, due to the models being overly complex and difficult to use. A limitation for the first
model was that anthropogenic heat influence was not considered, and for STEVE the modelers
identified some user issues with pre‐set values for the ‘fixed point’ and master plan maps being
difficult to alter within the current program version [224].
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