Assessment of bioclimatic sensitive spatial planning in a Turkish city, Eskisehir

Abstract

The city of Eskişehir is located in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey, where harsh continental climatic characteristics are prevalent (i.e., cold winters and hot summers). In recent years, quality and quantity of studies on bioclimatic comfort have increased both all over the world and in Turkey. Outdoor bioclimatic comfort conditions are counted amongst the indicators of human quality of life in urban environments, together with other physical, social and economic features such as air quality, GDP, and possibilities of social activities. The calculated values representing bioclimatic comfort conditions have been used instead of individual mean values of some climatic elements, in order to provide an insight of the liveability of a city. The aim of the present research study is to determine: (1) hourly bioclimatic comfort conditions in the Eskişehir city center during sultry summer days, considering bioclimatic comfort values calculated according to 12-year data from urban, sub-urban and rural areas using the physiological equivalent temperature (PET) index and RayMan software for the calculation of solar radiation fluxes on individuals in the hottest five months of the year; (2) the spatial distribution of these comfort values in decades (10-day intervals) using Geographic Information Systems and raster maps, taking into consideration elevation and land use; and (3) which urban design and planning principles could be adopted to deal with adverse thermal comfort conditions triggered by the urban heat island (UHI) effect. The results of the study indicate that the poorest comfort conditions are provided in urban areas, while rural areas are more advantageous in terms of comfort conditions. New bioclimatic-sensitive urban design principles are taken into consideration to create more comfortable areas from the bioclimatic perspective (i.e., windier and less humid sites open to the prevalent wind direction and out of heat stress).