Evaluating the effect of urban surfaces albedo on the microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort in hot climate.

The albedo and solar reflectance of surrounding surfaces, such as roads, pavements, and building façades, influence urban microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort. This study investigates the cumulative effect of pavements and facades’ albedo on the microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort in hot climates, trying to find the correlation between the urban surface albedo ratios and their thermal effects. Using the ENVI-Met software, nine scenarios with different albedo values (0.2 to 0.8) for pavements and buildings’ façades were simulated to encounter concrete in three colours. The clustering technique for the results was performed using the K-Means clustering method and correlation analysis using the orange data mining tool. The results indicate strong correlations between façade-pavement albedo ratio (FPR), air temperature, and UTCI values in both seasons, as well as a greater effect of the pavement on thermal conditions compared to the façade. Furthermore, the impact of high-albedo materials on air temperature and outdoor thermal comfort is the opposite, as the L-L scenario presents the highest UTCI values and the lowest air temperature in summer. Overall, the results indicate complex correlations between FPR, air temperature, and UTCI values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]