Climate adaptability of building passive strategies to changing future urban climate: A review
Buildings contribute about one-third of global CO2 emissions, yet the adaptability of building passive energy-saving strategies to the impacts of both global climate change (GCC) and urban heat island (UHI) remains understudied. We find that ∼55% of existing research focused on residential buildings...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Nexus |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2950160125000087 |
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| Summary: | Buildings contribute about one-third of global CO2 emissions, yet the adaptability of building passive energy-saving strategies to the impacts of both global climate change (GCC) and urban heat island (UHI) remains understudied. We find that ∼55% of existing research focused on residential buildings and ∼70% on developed nations, indicating geographical and typological skew and potential gaps in related research for more diverse urban environments, especially for the Global South. While existing studies have shown GCC will change building thermal demands across climate zones, the coupled effects of GCC and UHI on building energy performance need to be further understood. The performance of passive architectural design strategies (building shape, floor plan, etc.) and emerging materials (thermochromic and phase-change materials, etc.) in future urban climate remain understudied. Future research priorities include developing integrated climate models to capture coupled GCC-UHI effects, optimizing passive design for future urban climate scenarios, and evaluating passive measures' feedback to urban climate in various urban contexts. Efforts are needed to establish evaluation methods for future urban climate, develop climate-specific design guidelines, and create climate-adaptive building standards that evolve with climate projections. Broader context: Buildings are important contributors to climate change, accounting for about one-third of global energy use and carbon emissions. This review focuses on how passive strategies can assist buildings in adapting to urban climate change while improving building energy performance. We find that there are gaps in related research for developing regions and emphasize the need to comprehend how passive strategies affect and are affected by both global warming and urban heat islands, where cities get warmer than their surroundings.The findings underscore the need for architects and engineers to collaborate with climate scientists and policymakers to deliver climate-adaptive building solutions. Since most research was within the context of developed countries and limited building types, related efforts shall be expanded to more diverse urban contexts, especially in rapidly developing cities of the Global South, to develop more energy-efficient and resilient buildings. This study advocates for the integration of advanced climate modeling in future building designs that do not only confront climate challenges but actively reduce urban heating and energy consumption. |
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| ISSN: | 2950-1601 |