Cooling the city by design
"The design and layout of parts of the city can help reduce heat islands”
The Rama 1 Commercial Area Rehabilitation Development Project to Reduce the Impact of Urban Heat and Climate Change is a research project using design tools and spatial models to assess the efficiency of the layout design to reduce the temperature of the city. Various aspects of Bangkok heat the atmosphere due to man-made activities, which is exacerbated by climate change and global warming. Thus, one way to counter-act these effects is to redesign parts of the environment and infrastructure of the city in ways that can reduce the temperature of a neighborhood. However, implementing this is still a considerable challenge for designers and city planners.
​
The Rama 1 commercial area is considered an economic center of the city with a high density of land use and a rich mixture of city activities. It is also a major traffic inter-change area and, thus, regularly has heavy vehicular congestion. Many of the facilities and services in the area operate around the clock, and these factors pose challenges for creative ​​design and innovation challenges to help reduce temperatures and create a better environment.
UddC has therefore researched the problem and created a design to reduce the effects of “heat island” conditions through four mitigation strategies, including urban system management, urban shape, urban surface, and vegetation.
​
The Rama 1 commercial area has distinctive features, such as the Siam-Pathumwan-Ratchaprasong interface and the Chidlom-Ploenchit nexus. If implemented, the planned design is predicted to reduce the air temperature by at least 2 degrees Celsius.
PROJECT FACT
Project Name : Cooling the city by design
Year : 2019
Status : Studies Research and Design
Program / Role : Research and Design