Simulation for Pedestrians’ Thermal Comfort in Commercial Streets in Mosul-Iraq (According to Iraqi commercial building regulations)

Abstract

The shopping activity has occupied great importance within the urban activities, which have social and economic revenues for a high number of urban inhabitants. Commercial activities witnessed widespread in Mosul city, many streets changed their land use to commercial ones, reaching 11 Km in length in 2007, which formed in accordance with the applicable old and imported building regulations in Iraq. These regulations don't take into account the specificity of our hot, dry climate, which causes uncomfortable urban spaces for pedestrians and forces the building owners to roof their building facades with sheds. Studying urban micro-climate is important because of the high number of involved users. This paper aims to assess the thermal comfort of pedestrians in typical commercial streets in the city and study to what extent the proposed urban design solution will improve the thermal condition. The study will be performed with the numerical model ENVI-met, in which the influence of different street sections will be simulated. The results of this study give legislators the evidence to review building regulations in Iraq generally, and Mosul in particular, to meet the requirements of urban sustainability.