Evaluation of the application of cool materials in urban spaces: A case study in the center of Florina

In the last years there is a strong interest for application of bioclimatic techniques and practices in urban neighborhoods and open spaces. This paper presents a bioclimatic study of an open space in an urban area by the use of simulation tools giving emphasis on the replacement of conventional materials with cool materials. Routes linking traditional monuments in the Greek city of Florina are characterized of decreased human thermal comfort conditions during summer time. The employment of computational fluid dynamics has contributed in the understanding of what interventions should be made on urban populated routes in order to meet defined thermal related targets during the warmest day of the year. The proposed replacement of conventional materials by "cool" ones would result in the reduction of the mean surface temperature by 3.52 degrees C while the mean maximum air temperature would be reduced by 1.39 degrees C during noon of the warmest day. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.