Faced with the advance of climate change and the increase in heat waves, planning cooler cities is one of the great urban challenges.
Therefore, researchers from CONICET developed a digital tool that allows anticipating how urban planning decisions influence the air temperature.
This model has already been implemented in the city of Mendoza, where maximum temperatures easily exceed 30°C in summer.
The platform is called FORMA3T and is free access. It allows estimating the outdoor temperature in residential neighborhoods based on specific urban variables.
Among these, factors such as street width, building height, or plot orientation are considered.
How the tool for planning cooler cities works
The system was created by researchers from the Institute of Environment, Habitat and Energy (INAHE) of CONICET.
It quickly and accessibly calculates the air temperature in different urban scenarios, facilitating the evaluation of the thermal comfort of neighborhoods.
“The name FORMA3T arises because we analyze the urban form, its geometry, and the platform returns three temperature values: maximum, minimum, and average,” explains Belén Sosa, a researcher at CONICET in INAHE.
The platform relies on more than 500 urban simulations conducted with the software ENVI-met.
For example, it evaluates the impact of modifying the public greenery, changing the orientation of streets, or adjusting their width.
These simulations were adjusted with real field measurements and synthesized into mathematical models capable of predicting temperatures with few input data.
“The idea was to synthesize years of scientific work into a simple platform that doesn’t require purchasing software or having advanced technical knowledge,” noted Sosa.
Therefore, the calculation system is instantaneous and allows comparing design alternatives for new projects or already built areas.
The variables to achieve cooler cities
Thus, FORMA3T allows rethinking urban design from a climatic perspective.
In particular, once the project was implemented in the city of Mendoza, the results confirm the importance of preserving the urban greenery.
“We cannot forget the alignment greenery. Maintaining a homogeneous implementation is key to sustaining the green canopy that characterizes the province,” warned Sosa.
Other determining variables include:
- Street width: narrow streets (16-20 meters) favor shading and reduce temperature
- Urban orientation: avoid west-facing facades that absorb heat throughout the day
- Building height: influences shading and air circulation
- Lot distribution: affects ventilation and the neighborhood’s microclimate
“In summer, the west facade absorbs heat throughout the day and receives direct sunlight in the afternoon,” details the researcher.
Therefore, “slightly rotated orientations can help keep outdoor spaces cooler.”
The keys to the FORMA3T online system and growth plans
The developed models have a precision greater than 85%, and in the case of the minimum temperature, exceed 90%.
This data is especially relevant for analyzing the effect of the urban heat island.
“Minimum temperatures are key because hot nights have increased, forcing the use of air conditioning, which in turn reheats the environment,” indicated Sosa.
Reducing this vicious circle would allow decreasing the energy consumption for cooling.
Érica Correa, a researcher at CONICET in INAHE, also highlighted that the tool works completely online.
“The user enters the platform, inputs simple data like street width, and the statistical model returns the estimated air temperatures of the neighborhood,” she explained.
FORMA3T was developed by Belén Sosa and Érica Correa, along with Darío Jaime and Stella Maris Donato.
The project was supported by the Municipality of Mendoza and funded by the Green Fund and CONICET lines.
Currently, the platform focuses on low-density neighborhoods, with one or two-level houses.
However, the team is planning a second stage to expand the analysis to medium and high-density areas.
“We started with low density because it is the most representative of Mendoza, but the idea is to scale the tool and reach other densities,” concluded Sosa.
