Green infrastructure in cities and alleviation of urban heat

2011-2018, PhD research Wiebke Klemm, funded by ‘Knowledge for Climate - Climate Proof Cities’ Dutch ‘kennisbasis’ project; supervisors: Bert van Hove, Sanda Lenzholzer

Generating usable design guidelines for climate responsive design is one of the main goals of the PhD research of Wiebke Klemm. The project focused on green structures in the city: how they influence the physical and psychological thermal experience of people and how this new knowledge can be translated into design guidelines. The first phase of the project included field work on different types of urban green infrastructures (whole city, park and street scales). It combined on-site microclimate measurements, interviews with citizens and behavioural observations which provided a wealth of empirical evidence. In the last phase of the project Wiebke continued where most other research ceases: she translated the empirical evidence into design guidelines through a research through designing process. She involved students and professionals who tested the preliminary design guidelines on their comprehensibility, applicability and feasibility and came up with guidelines that are truly useful in urban design practice.

Publications related to PhD project: Towards guidelines for designing parks of the future; Street greenery and its physical and psychological impact on thermal comfort; Psychological and physical impact of urban green spaces on outdoor thermal comfort during summertime in The Netherlands;