LiDAR-Based Approach for Urban Ventilation Corridors Mapping

摘要

Cities, recognized as one of the roughest surfaces, significantly reduce wind velocity. This leads to a greater concentration of pollution and increased temperature in urban areas. A proper urban design may promote the air flow and mitigate these negative phenomena. This paper describes a novel approach to detect and analyze the potential urban ventilation corridors. The concept is based on the morphometric analyses, where roughness parameters (such as roughness length and displacement height), as well as porosity are investigated as opposed to previous studies. Commonly available light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data enable more detailed terrain study, as the topography and obstacle features (type, dimensions, and porosity) might be investigated. In comparison to the previous studies and long adapted practices, this approach takes advantage of all information incorporated in LiDAR data to deliver even more accurate results. The comparison of the detected corridors, with the officially designed corridors in our study area in Warsaw, suggests inaccuracies in their extent (only 40% of their areas might still be functioning) and calls for an evaluation. The results deliver areas that may be recognized as urban ventilation corridors and serve as air regeneration and ventilation system. They may also be used for developing new solutions for continuously evolving cities.