Integrated urban heat sinks for low-carbon neighbourhoods: dissipating heat to the ground and sky through building structures

Abstract

In a global context of simultaneous urbanization and rising ambient temperatures, it is imperative to design heat-resilient and material-efficient neighbourhoods that respond to the pressing demand for housing with minimal environmental impact. With this goal in mind, the work presented here focuses on the integration of heat dissipation systems within structural building components, introducing a novel framework for their systems-level simulation and design. Two well-studied, low-cost systems (shallow geothermal and night-sky cooling) are modelled within a parametric design workflow that combines bottom-up structural embodied carbon calculations with annual building energy simulations that account for heat sink availability. The proposed method results in a fast and reliable early-stage design tool that allows urban planners, policymakers, and designers to evaluate the suitability of available heat dissipation technologies across climates and urban morphologies. This paper analyzes specifically the multi-domain performance of a hypothetical urban geometry within three different cooling-dominated locations (Algiers, Cairo, and Bangkok).