How to Cool Down Dense Urban Environments? A Discussion on Site-Specific Urban Mitigating Strategies

For over a decade, the increasing effect of climate change patterns has become a global challenge to be considered and integrated on all levels into the planning of cities. Europe's extreme climate has continued to shatter heat records in the past ten years and is projected to worsen. The local heat islands in dense urban environments are affecting buildings' energy consumption and outdoor air quality, as well as increasingly influencing the health and well-being of the growing urban population, especially the elderly. Therefore, cities are a challenge when developing and adopting sustainable actions to mitigate the worsening urban thermal environment in upcoming years. The purpose of this research conducted under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Pia Fricker, Professorship for Computational Design in Landscape Architecture and Urbanism at Aalto University Finland, is to provide developed urban areas with a set of feasible and ecological outdoor thermal comfort mitigation solution strategies in respect to the changing climatic conditions of the future. The paper takes Helsinki as a pilot site, as it represents an average dense city with a high representative number of elderly citizens. Special focus is set on researching the performance of small-scale interventions which support the well-being of people living in affected urban areas. The applications fill an existing gap in urban services and infrastructure found in projected extreme climate change and engages citizens in the urban climate adaptation process.