239
water during extended rainfall, reducing air pollution, helping to reduce the speed
of urban traffic, and even a general improvement in the environmental and aesthetic
quality of public spaces. New traffic islands were added inside the pilot area along
the streets whose width could reasonably be reduced or that could be switched from
two-way to one-way traffic. We also added a green area on a space used as a square
along Via Guizza.
8.5.3 Private Outdoor Spaces
The management of private outdoor spaces is also a major factor in determining the
occurrence and intensity of urban heat islands. Depending on the type of settlement,
a significant portion of Veneto’s cities that is not covered by buildings is private
property; in the case of Padua’s pilot area, private property covers more than 1\3 of
the total surface.
It is obvious that the management of these surfaces is greatly relevant to the mitigation of the heat island effect. However, in this case, even a simple technical solution (increasing the green surface and the reflectance of impermeable surfaces) must
be justified at the management and legislative level; a cogent response is necessarily
based on a general strategic vision that can harmonize individual management
needs with the understanding of the importance of adapting to climate changes.
Private outdoor spaces can easily be handled when it comes to new buildings, where
building codes can set new extension and surface type parameters, but they require
a much more thorough consideration for consolidated urban areas, as is the case of
the pilot area, since it is more difficult to find legislative levers or incentives to
modify already built property.
In these cases, implementation can be achieved through the following:
– come up with education programs for the city’s inhabitants, so that the more
sensitive section of them may be stimulated into performing ordinary maintenance of their private spaces;
– coordinate with the water department to establish incentive policies where bill
payments reflect how much of a property is impermeabilized.
Within the pilot area, we proposed to modify only the reflectivity of the private
surfaces currently impermeabilized by asphalt, concrete or the like with intervention 4, whereas with intervention 5 we proposed to replace them with greenery
(Figs. 8.13 and 8.14).
8.5.4 Post-scenario Intervention
The last project intervention on the pilot area takes a step beyond the interventions
encompassed by the feasibility study, proposing a more incisive transformation that
involves buildings as well.
8 Mitigation of and Adaptation to UHI Phenomena: The Padua Case Study
water during extended rainfall, reducing air pollution, helping to reduce the speed
of urban traffic, and even a general improvement in the environmental and aesthetic
quality of public spaces. New traffic islands were added inside the pilot area along
the streets whose width could reasonably be reduced or that could be switched from
two-way to one-way traffic. We also added a green area on a space used as a square
along Via Guizza.
8.5.3 Private Outdoor Spaces
The management of private outdoor spaces is also a major factor in determining the
occurrence and intensity of urban heat islands. Depending on the type of settlement,
a significant portion of Veneto’s cities that is not covered by buildings is private
property; in the case of Padua’s pilot area, private property covers more than 1\3 of
the total surface.
It is obvious that the management of these surfaces is greatly relevant to the mitigation of the heat island effect. However, in this case, even a simple technical solution (increasing the green surface and the reflectance of impermeable surfaces) must
be justified at the management and legislative level; a cogent response is necessarily
based on a general strategic vision that can harmonize individual management
needs with the understanding of the importance of adapting to climate changes.
Private outdoor spaces can easily be handled when it comes to new buildings, where
building codes can set new extension and surface type parameters, but they require
a much more thorough consideration for consolidated urban areas, as is the case of
the pilot area, since it is more difficult to find legislative levers or incentives to
modify already built property.
In these cases, implementation can be achieved through the following:
– come up with education programs for the city’s inhabitants, so that the more
sensitive section of them may be stimulated into performing ordinary maintenance of their private spaces;
– coordinate with the water department to establish incentive policies where bill
payments reflect how much of a property is impermeabilized.
Within the pilot area, we proposed to modify only the reflectivity of the private
surfaces currently impermeabilized by asphalt, concrete or the like with intervention 4, whereas with intervention 5 we proposed to replace them with greenery
(Figs. 8.13 and 8.14).
8.5.4 Post-scenario Intervention
The last project intervention on the pilot area takes a step beyond the interventions
encompassed by the feasibility study, proposing a more incisive transformation that
involves buildings as well.
8 Mitigation of and Adaptation to UHI Phenomena: The Padua Case Study