Optimizing urban housing design: Improving thermo-energy performance and mitigating heat emissions from buildings – A Latin American case study

Abstract

This study investigates the influence of urban heat islands (UHI) on buildings and explores passive design strategies to improve thermo-energy performance while mitigating heat emissions into the urban environment. Concentrating on Latin American cities, the research conducts an intra-urban and climate-related analysis in two scenarios: naturally ventilated and equipped with an HVAC system. The intra-urban analysis considers socioeconomic disparities and diverse urban zones, while the climate-related analysis covers five different cities. This analysis utilizes machine learning models combined with the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) for optimization, along with the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) for suitable solution selection. The results reveal potential reductions of energy loads, discomfort hours, and heat emissions, ranging from 2 % to nearly 120 %, depending on the case or scenario evaluated. The Pareto front varieties are discussed, offering design recommendations for addressing housing disparities and optimizing urban zones or cities. The findings suggest that newer building energy standards might underestimate urban warming in historically cold climates. Additionally, shifting toward HVAC use in residential areas could lead to new socioeconomic and environmental issues. This underscores the need for holistic building design that integrates balanced urban planning considerations to mitigate urban overheating.