“AMELIORATING THE MICRO-CLIMATE OF URBAN AREAS: -A CASE STUDY OF RESIDENTIAL COURTYARD BLOCK OF PATAN”

Abstract

The world is experiencing a crisis with climate change, and Nepal is among the most vulnerable nations. Urban areas, including those with heritage value, are experiencing an increase in air temperature due to the combined effects of climate change and the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. In order to lower UHI and raise outdoor thermal comfort, urban morphology is essential. Therefore, designers, planners or climatologists in order to make better microclimate and to improve thermal comfort consideration is necessary at planning phase. This paper presents a study of a major open area in a densely built and populated area in the centre of Patan to improve thermal comfort conditions in open spaces. This study focuses on the temporal-spatial analysis of how the geometry and vegetation of courtyards affect the outdoor thermal conditions in a warm, humid climate. This study will help to report the thermal environmental conditions of a courtyard open space in terms of vernacular dwelling space for present and future scenarios of climate change. This research will help to increase the comfort level of the people residing by improving indoor and outdoor thermal comfort in the courtyard with the use of appropriate construction techniques. It will also help in enhancing courtyards’ thermal conditions and contributing to an improvement of the surrounding urban