Urban morphology, urban heat island (UHI) and building energy consumption: A critical review of methods and relationships among influential parameters

Despite the known effects of UHI on building energy consumption, there is currently a lack of generalizable methods to incorporate UHI into building energy simulations (BES) for accurate energy performance evaluation of urban buildings. The absence of generalizable methods is mainly due to the complex and interconnected relationships among the urban built environment, UHI and building energy performance which not only determine the magnitude of UHI intensity, but also its effects on the energy performance of buildings. With the overarching aim of enabling a generalizable UHI-BES integration method, this literature review examines the relationships between urban morphology, UHI and building energy consumption to determine the knowledge gaps that hinder the development of a robust and generalizable integration method. More specifically, this literature review presents a critical analysis of methods and data sources used in the existing literature to (1) derive UHI intensity based on urban built environment attributes, and (2) analyze the effect of calculated UHI intensities on the cooling, heating, and annual energy consumption of buildings. Methods and materials used by various studies are examined given their potentials for generalizability, level of accuracy and application possibility for BES purposes.Practical applications This review serves as a practical roadmap of the entire methodology of research focusing on relationship between urban morphology, UHI and building energy performance and may serve as a guideline to building professions who intend to incorporate UHI for more accurate energy analyses. Furthermore, the review identifies the various databases, software programs and methodological options to guide the future research as well as industry practice on the topic.