Review of Urban Heat Island and Building Energy Modeling Approaches

In this paper, a review of the current literature in modeling Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomena including its main causes and effects is summarized. Moreover, the reported analysis results to assess the impacts of UHI on outdoor comfort as well as on urban building energy are discussed. In addition, the limitations and future potential improvements of urban building modeling approaches are also outlined throughout the review. In particular, models and mechanisms for the formation of atmospheric boundary and canopy layers above an urban environment are first described. Then, the main causes of the UHI development and its intensity are presented with specific references to various reported analyses and studies. Major modeling methodologies are identified to evaluate UHI effects including outdoor thermal comfort and energy performance of urban built environment. Finally, UHI mitigation strategies are outlined with their potential effectiveness based on reported evaluation analyses.