Green roofs and cool materials as retrofitting strategies for urban heat island mitigation case study in Belgrade, Serbia

Abstract

The effect of extensive and intensive green roofs on improving outdoor microclimate parameters of urban built environments is currently a worldwide focus of research. Due to the lack of reliable data for Belgrade, the impact of extensive and intensive green roof systems on mitigating the effects of urban heat islands and improving microclimatic conditions by utilizing high albedo materials in public spaces were studied. Research was conducted on four chosen urban units within existing residential blocks in the city that were representative of typical urban planning and construction within the Belgrade metropolitan area. Five different models (baseline model and four potential models of retrofitting) were designed, for which the temperature changes at pedestrian and roof levels at 07:00, 13:00, 19:00 h, on a typical summer day, and at 01:00 h, the following night in Belgrade were investigated. The ENVI-met software was used to model the simulations. The results of numerical modeling showed that utilizing green roofs in the Belgrade climatic area could reduce air temperatures in the surroundings up to 0.47, 1.51, 1.60, 1.80 degrees C at pedestrian level and up to 0.53, 1.45, 0.90, 1.45 degrees C at roof level for four potential retrofitting strategies, respectively.