The Urban Canopy Layer Heat Island
The Urban Canopy Layer Heat Island (Mills, 2004).
Lectures (Visuals and Audio) from the 2016 Croucher Advanced Study Institute: Changing Urban Climate and the Impact on Urban Thermal Environment and Urban Living
Urban Development and Urban Climate–Stuttgart – Urban Development and Urban Climate–Stuttgart: An Example from the Federal Republic of Germany
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I do have the honour and the pleasure to introduce you to a film about the Urban Development and Urban Climate in Stuttgart. Today Stuttgart is one of the tenth big cities in Germany, with about 590, 000 Inhabitants and is the capital city of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg. In 1976 the Ministry of Building of the German Republic produced a film with the title: Urban Development and Urban Climate–Stuttgart: An Example from the Federal Republic of Germany. This film was the contribution of Germany to the first UN-Conference about human Settlements in Vancouver. This conference got the name HABITAT. One direct consequence of this meeting was the foundation of the UN Centre for Human Settlements.
In 1976 the German Building Law was amended to include Climate and Air as issues of public importance. However, climatic concerns have been included in city planning in Stuttgart since the appointment of a meteorologist to the Climatological Department in city administration in 1938. The role of the meteorologist was to analyse climatic conditions and to relate these to urban development. Due to this long tradition Stuttgart was elected as the example for this film.
Initially, the analyses carried out by Climatological Department focussed on climatic parameters that were measured at 5 stations. Among these parameters were the concentration of dust and solar radiation, which were used to examine the absorption of UV radiation by dust haze. This work was interrupted by the Second World War during which records and equipment were destroyed. The analyses carried out for the general land-use plan that was formulated after the war constituted a new beginning. Within this plan, the role of climate in planning was discussed including the potential of katabatic winds from the surrounding hills to provide natural ventilation. The film from Stuttgart was the reason that many climatologists and planners from outside Germany visited Stuttgart to observe how we apply urban climatology in the urban planning processes.
Please excuse that the film is not in a good quality, but it is a copy from an old 16 mm film.
I wish you now amusing fifteen minutes!
Stuttgart Urban Development and Urban Climate
Prof Dr Juergen Baumueller.
City Weathers, Manchester 23 June, 2011.