Reading Resources

Brown, R. D. (2010). Design with microclimate: The secret to comfortable outdoor spaces. Island Press.

This book introduces the complex topic of microclimate with a good balance of technical information, anecdotes and examples in an engaging and accessible way. It provides easy to understand and intuitive design principles which can be implemented in everyday practice to improve the thermal comfort of people in outdoor spaces.

Erell, E., Pearlmutter, D., & Williamson, T. (2010). Urban Microclimate: Designing the Spaces Between Buildings. Taylor and Francis.

The authors aim to make the technical and researched information about the urban climate accessible for applied urban design. It explains the interaction between the microclimate and each element of the urban landscape and how that affects the climatic conditions in between buildings. With case studies they follow each design step and illustrate for architects and planning practitioners how to approach the complexity of applied microclimate design.

Hopper, L. J. (2012). Landscape Architectural Graphic Standards, Student Edition (1st ed.). John Wiley & Sons.

Several sections in this book explain the basics of solar radiation, wind and microclimate modification for landscape and urban design purposes. 

Keith, L., & Meerow, S. (2022). Planning for Urban Heat Resilience. American Planning Association. https://www.planning.org/publications/report/9245695/

In this report the relevance of thermal comfort in out increasingly hotter urban environments gets adressed with an overview of the problem, mitigation strategies and planning frameworks.

Klemm, W. (2018). Clever and cool: Generating design guidelines for climate-responsive urban green infrastructure. Wageningen University.

Develops and tests clear guidelines and operational principles to implement urban green infrastructure that is based on site-specific microclimate analysis and considers spatial conditions as well as the behavioural demands of citizens.

Oke, T. R. (2002). Boundary Layer Climates (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203407219

Clear and in-depth resource about the science of microclimate. For those that want to know more about the climatic processes, albeit without explicit relation to design and planning.

Osmond, P., & Sharifi, E. (2017). Guide to Urban Cooling Strategies. Low Carbon Living CRC. https://www.lowcarbonlivingcrc.com.au/sites/all/files/publications_file_attachments/rp2024_guide_to_urban_cooling_strategies_2017_web.pdf

Extensive overview over cooling strategies, their effect and best use cases. Developed with Australian cities in mind, but the strategies and principles are universal and applicable in similar climate zones.

Ebrahimabadi, S., Johansson, C., Rizzo, A., & Nilsson, K. (2018). Microclimate assessment method for urban design – A case study in subarctic climate. URBAN DESIGN International, 23(2), 116–131. https://doi.org/10.1057/udi.2015.26

Pacheco Diéguez, A., Duckart, C., & Coccolo, S. (2017). URBAN THERMAL COMFORT STUDY - Kiruna Square. https://whitearkitekter.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Thermal-Comfort-Analysis-Kiruna-White-Arkitekter.pdf

These are two recent studies which investigate the microclimate of a central square in Kiruna. They are exemplary in the way a research perspective is integrated into the design of a public space with detailed microclimate simulation analysis. 

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