Heritage and climate: Mitigating ICU in historic sites. Case study: Tarija, Bolivia
Heritage, Microclimate, Greening, ENVI-met Simulation.
Revaluing the urban heart of the city involves multiple actions that impact both the physical infrastructure and the democratic exercise of use and recognition of open public space (OPS) to achieve sustainability and resilience to current climatic phenomena. The objective of this research is to analyze the environmental performance of urban greenery as a mitigation strategy against the negative effects of Urban Heat Island (UHI) at a microclimatic scale in the central historic site of the city of Tarija (450m*350m), in the monumental heritage area. The study is based on scalar analysis according to the classification of perception fields: large structure, sector/site, place, and building, applying geoprocessing and computational simulation. The methodological process comprises three procedures: 1) Temporal analysis of ICU (2001-2021) with the Land Surface Temperature (LST) indicator, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) by remote sensing, at large structure 2) Analysis of the axial map (1606-2020) with the Integration (Inthh) indicator by spatial syntax, at large structure and 3) Comparison of scenarios: base scenario (current) and deep green scenario (proposal), including tree planting in roads, courtyards and green corridors that articulate three downtown squares, through the indicator of Air Temperature (Air T), Surface Temperature (T Surface), Average Radiant Temperature (Trm) and Thermal Comfort Indicator (PET) with ENVI-met V5.5.1 simulation at site/building scale. The results corroborate the hypothesis, the performance of urban green increases if existing central green areas are articulated, preserving heritage elements and incorporating micro-urban design to integrate the areas. The implementation of this micro-climate strategy in neighborhoods/districts is recommended to promote a policy of adaptation to climate change and mitigation of urban warming.