Greening strategies comparison for high-rise residential complex outdoor thermal comfort for summer: The apartment case of South Korea

The research assesses the relative cooling effects of different greening strategies for residential complex thermal comfort, encompassing tree coverage (TC), type, and distribution. It examines the intricate interplay between building height and landscape area, all within the context of maintaining an identical floor area ratio. Key findings reveal that 1) controlling TC produced the most significant change in thermal comfort, followed by tree type (TT) and tree distribution (TD) under regulation context in South Korea 2) With a typical floor area ratio and balanced building layout, building form doesn't notably differ in cooling effects compared to introduced greening strategies. 3) controlling TC exceeding medium density (0.12 trees per square meter of actual landscape area) but remaining below high density (0.20 trees per square meter of actual landscape area) yield the most cooling effect, irrespective of building form. 4) Increasing broad-leaved deciduous trees and strategically planting them also contribute significantly to cooling, surpassing the impact of further increasing TC. For climate-adaptive residential complex design, the study recommends prioritizing greening interventions over building form. Suggestions include planning for adequate TC, emphasizing TT with broad-leaved trees after reaching an adequate TC level, and implementing strategic tree distribution avoiding building shaded area and controlling tree density based on wind corridor, and securing enough distance between trees for enhanced cooling effects. The research proposes reevaluating local regulations to base planting quantity on actual landscape area, potentially increasing the density of trees threefold with enough amount of broad-leaved tree, and introducing guidelines for effective tree distribution.