A NEW COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF LOCAL URBAN MORPHOLOGY BASED ON LOCAL CLIMATE ZONES: A STUDY USING MOBILE SURVEYS IN CHENGDU TESTBED

Abstract

The local climate zones (LCZ) classification introduced by Stewart and Oke is to standardize climatic observations. It aims at linking different land cover types to corresponding thermal properties directly from the perspective of urban geography. Yet the classification needs further development when it is applied to local studies, especially to analysis of the urban morphology. The World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) is intended to produce a global shared database capturing information on urban form and function for climate applications. Chengdu was chosen as a testbed for WUDAPT level 1 and level 2 development. This study’s purpose is to improve the local development and validate the applicability of the LCZ classification in Chengdu in hot summer and cold winter areas in China based on the urban morphological methods in architecture and urban design. A local urban morphological analysis template was developed, including qualitative characteristics and quantitative indicators. Field investigations on urban morphology and mobile surveys on air temperature have taken place 3 times since the summer of 2017 to gather the data about air temperature with surveyors going by vehicles and on foot. The result was in general accord with the LCZ theory. Moreover, it presented some interesting differences under the impact of local urban morphology.