I’ve been looking for good introductory texts on urban planning and design concepts. The 2009 Designing high-density cities: for social and environmental sustainability edited by Edward Ng includes chapters on the definition of density, reasons for density (especially sustainability), considerations for climate change, and the engineering implications for sound, ventilation, and temperature (urban heat island effects can be awful).
60-61: In tandem with urbanization in Hong Kong, urban temperature has risen faster than in the countryside, winds have slowed, visibility has deteriorated, less solar radiation is reaching the ground, evaporation rates have gone down, and so on. But does it matter? For the rich and the elite, it probably does not. They could switch on air conditioning throughout the year, watch high- definition TV instead of looking at the sky, employ artificial sunlight to get a tan, dry their clothes with electrical devices, etc. Unfortunately, this would raise urban living to an even higher level in terms of high energy consumption, which would, in turn, cause even greater climate change. For people with lesser means, especially the old and the weak, it could, however, become a life-threatening issue. One aspect of climate change that could ‘kill’ people with chronic diseases and old people living alone is the increasing number of hot nights. Figure 5.8 shows the rise in the number of hot nights – that is, nights with a minimum temperature above 28°C, based on Hong Kong Observatory headquarters data from 1961 to 2005. During the 1960s, it was just a few days a year. Now it is roughly 20 days a year.
According to the projection of Leung et al (2004b), the figure would rise to 30 by the end of the century. This city is heading towards a hot, stuffy state of atmosphere. In future summers, the old and the weak living in their tiny rooms in urban areas will have to face an increasing number of hot nights with no air conditioning, little wind and the dampness arising from little sun and little evaporation. They also have to fear the attack of more germs than there used to be since their natural enemies – namely, fresh air and sunshine – have been reduced in strength. Unfortunately, the underprivileged have to look forward to even more tall buildings along the shore or even right at the heart of the urban areas to block the little wind and sunshine left. Buildings are meant to benefit people. But we have seen in the meteorological records presented above that buildings have collectively modified the urban climate in a way unfavourable to healthy living. It is high time for us to rethink the fundamentals of what urban living should look like. Much is in the hands of architects and engineers.
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