Assessment of Wind–Thermal Environments in Urban Cultural Blocks Integrating Remote Sensing Data with Fluid Dynamics Simulations
Mitigating heat stress in high-density historical districts remains a critical challenge in urban renewal due to complex morphological heterogeneity. Existing research often relies on isolated intervention measures, lacking systematic, multi-strategy assessments driven by high-precision spatial data. This study addresses this gap by establishing a quantitative framework that couples thermal infrared remote sensing with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to optimize microclimate responses in Beijing’s Liulichang Historic District. Remote sensing data were utilized to retrieve high-resolution Land Surface Temperature (LST), providing accurate thermal boundary conditions for micro-scale wind-thermal simulations. A baseline scenario (S0) and seven renewal strategies (S1–S7)—integrating varying configurations of greenery, water bodies, and permeable pavements—were evaluated using pedestrian-level comfort indices. Results reveal that single-factor interventions yield marginal improvements or thermodynamic trade-offs; specifically, adding greenery (S1) in narrow street canyons increased aerodynamic roughness, thereby obstructing ventilation and inducing localized warming. Conversely, composite strategies significantly enhanced microclimatic quality. The “greenery-water-permeable pavement” strategy (S4) achieved optimal synergistic effects, characterized by substantial cooling and spatial homogenization. Regression analysis identified water bodies as the dominant cooling driver, where a 10% increase in water coverage resulted in a temperature reduction of approximately 5.17 °C. Conversely, greenery alone showed no statistically significant cooling contribution (p > 0.05) without the synergistic presence of water or pavement modifications. This research suggests that urban renewal in high-temperature zones (>36 °C) should prioritize composite cooling networks. Furthermore, vegetation layouts near wind corridors must be precisely regulated to prevent ventilation degradation. These findings provide a scientific basis for the climate-adaptive sustainable regeneration of culturally significant, high-density urban blocks.
Authors
- Lingying Zhou
- Hongyuan Huo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5843-3106)
- Han Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4884-9655)
- Peng Du
- Yi Lian
Institutions
- PLA Information Engineering University (CN)
- Beijing University of Technology (CN)
- Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Applied Sciences
- Published
- 2026-03-17
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/app16062889
- Primary Topic
- Urban Heat Island Mitigation
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00