URBAN HEAT ISLANDS IN THE “GREEN CITY”: MITIGATION OF HEAT ZONES IN RESIDENTIAL PARQUE BRASIL, IN TERESINA-PI
Urban heat island; Bioclimatic architecture; ENVI-met; Cool pavement; Vegetation
The urban expansion impacts the natural landscape and affects the environmental quality and life of the population. Anthropogenic action is responsible for the suppression of vegetation and soil sealing, causing an increase in temperature and a tendency to contribute to the phenomenon of Heat Islands. This research deals with the environmental quality of public spaces and the mitigation of these effects on a microclimatic scale, highlighting the public spaces of housing developments as the object of study. In this context, the city of Teresina, Piauí, is part of the discussion due to its high temperatures and the intense implementation of housing developments throughout its history. The main objective of this work is to contribute to the study of the adaptation of heat zones in public spaces of housing complexes in the city of Teresina, to encourage the creation of spaces of greater quality and comfort for the most vulnerable population. To achieve this, concepts about urban climate, anthropic action, and the influence of morphology on the urban microclimate are discussed. Subsequently, the history and climate characterization of Teresina were presented, in addition to the concept of bioclimatic architecture of the public space, with a focus on housing complexes and strategies to adapt heat zones with the use of cool pavements and vegetation. Then, the selection of the object of study was made through geoprocessing, defining Residencial Parque Brasil as a case study, where bioclimatic sheets were applied for a more in-depth analysis of the area. Finally, a computer simulation was carried out with the ENVI-met 5.1.1 software at two selected points of the object of study, and in three different scenarios, using cool pavements and vegetation, from which were extracted the data of air temperature, relative air humidity, surface temperature and mean radiant temperature. The results showed the effectiveness of bioclimatic strategies in improving the microclimate, with punctual reductions of up to 1.1ºC in air temperature, 14.7ºC in surface temperature and a 3.9% increase in air humidity. The study also showed the importance of the mean radiant temperature index and that the scenario that combined cool pavements and vegetation strategies was the most effective. The results obtained were listed in guidelines to encourage the creation of public spaces in social interest projects with higher quality.