Urban environment influence on natural ventilation potential

Natural ventilation is less effective in urban than in rural environment, especially in street canyons. Reduced wind velocity, urban heat island, noise and pollution, are considered to be important barriers to its application in urban environment. To quantify their effect on ventilation, wind, temperature, noise attenuation and outdoor-indoor pollution transfer were measured for a large variation range and for various types of urban configuration. The models obtained can be used in the initial stages of building design in order to assess the viability of natural ventilation in urban environment, especially in street canyons. (C) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.