The impact of the Persian garden principles as traditional ecological landscaping on thermal comfort
Loading...
Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Outdoor thermal comfort is a key factor generally affecting both physical and
mental human health. The increased temperature on days caused by the urban heat island
effect is a common phenomenon in cities, which has affected various indicators of quality
of urban life such as air quality, use of fossil fuels, human health, etc. Accordingly, to
mitigate the heat island effects, the thermal quality of urban open spaces and cooling
strategies have been considered by climatologists, urban planners, and landscape
designers. In the case of Iran, despite the efforts, studies, and research conducted in this
field in recent years, there is no climatic vision at the planning and site design level in
most projects. Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the significance of climatic
landscape planning and design and outdoor well-being, not only among urban planners
and landscape designers but also among the general public.
The Persian garden, known as a traditional ecological landscape in Iran, is the
result of valuable experiences of human coexistence with nature and adaptation to
climatic conditions during centuries. In fact, the Persian garden not only meets the needs
of man and nature but also creates a beautiful environment and provides thermal comfort
under the harsh conditions of Iran's hot and dry climate. In this term, the study of the
Persian garden, which is based on Iranian culture and believes, is desired and beneficial.
Therefore, in this study, after identifying the concept, the structures, and the fundamental
elements of the Persian garden and after conceptualizing its ecological design principles,
Persian gardens in different climatic zones are selected in order to determine their
responses to the changing climatic conditions and their influential factors.
Then based on these extracted principles, several scenarios of applying a variety
of Persian garden structural elements in the Fin Garden of Kashan, as an outstanding
registered world heritage garden, are defined. In order to find the principles of climatic
design in the Persian gardens, the ENVI-Met simulations of these scenarios are analyzed
on a typical summer day. In the end, the results' efficiency was proved through
hypothetical redesign and simulation applied in a similar green space in Kashan with
almost equal dimensions. This study concludes that in hot and dry climates, a variety of
parameters such as landscape planning, selection and combination of vegetation, water
system, geometry, site orientation, surface materials, wind and sunlight control, and
spatial arrangement and design influence the outdoor thermal comfort. In conclusion,
these results are presented as green strategies and design guidelines for future climate
designs in Iran's hot and dry climate.
Description
Table of contents
Keywords
Climate change, Thermal comfort, Persian garden, Landscape design