Energy and Aesthetic Upgrading Interventions: Assessing Urban Block Renovation Scenarios

The target towards carbon neutral cities emerges as a new way to mitigate the environmental pollution and the indisputable climate change, but it can also be the chance for the overall improvement of the quality of life by promoting the upgrading of the often low aesthetic quality of the urban environments. The objective of the research is to investigate renovation strategies at the city scale that will not only reduce the energy demand, but they will also promote the improvement of the city’s aesthetics. Two different typologies of urban block forms of the Greek city are examined, and four scenarios of renovation interventions are analysed according to energy and aesthetic criteria. The heating and cooling load demand is calculated through simulations for the four renovation scenarios which include: The improvement of the thermal insulation of the building’s shells. The use of phase change materials. The construction of green roofs. The integration of passive solar and shading systems. The findings of the research prove that the energy interventions at the urban block scale can define the degree of efficiency in the energy performance level without compromising aesthetics, as the added value resulting from higher aesthetics is a basic criterion for the overall improvement of the quality of life.