Recent statistical reports highlight an accelerating phenomenon of radical urbanization, and the forecasts estimate that within the next ten years, about 70% of the world’s population will be located in urban areas, compared with 54% currently living there. This phenomenon will result in an increase in the constructed volume, with foreseeable adverse effects on the climate, the environment, and residents’ health. The resulting growth of the emissions and the use of energy resources, combined with changes in the soil condition and absorption characteristics, leads to a focus on issues related to the sustainable development of cities. The effects of anthropogenic activity influence the materials’ surface and air temperatures, contributing to the phenomenon of the increase of the average atmospheric temperatures near the earth’s surface, with the consequent generation of the phenomenon of the urban heat islands (UHIs). This paper aims to examine, in a neighborhood context, the effects of mitigation strategies implemented through the application of cool materials on urban surfaces. Through simulations carried out in a case study, with the support of software such as ENVI-met and tools for Grasshopper such as Ladybug, and with the observation of data related to the evolution of the surface temperatures, the air temperatures, and other microclimatic parameters, the outcomes obtained with the use of cool pavements were analyzed. Finally, the comparison between the two scenarios, the current and the projected, allowed the evaluation of the overall efficiency of the proposed interventions.

This paper presents a methodology to improve energy efficiency and sustainability in urban environments. The ongoing climate change is causing increasingly important consequences for cities and their inhabitants. Temperatures are rising and human thermal comfort conditions are becoming worse. For this reason, it is essential to evaluate how parts of cities react to these phenomena and how they could improve their behavior. To do this, the area of interest has to be analyzed from various aspects, starting with an assessment of the microclimatic conditions. Through these analyses, it is possible to observe the interactions between climate and the urban context on a macro-scale. The actual results, such as surface temperature and air temperature, will be useful for hypothesizing where different paved surfaces need to be restored with mitigative actions. Another aspect that needs to be considered for a comprehensive analysis of the area’s potential concerns the study of solar potential. We will describe how this topic was approached, making in-depth evaluations of the quality of the results obtained through the analysis of simplified models. The portability of these data within a spatial domain was also evaluated, integrating the values on a territorial database. Another important topic that needs to be analyzed to plan an improvement of an area in terms of energy production is the installation of new solar active production systems. The appropriate inclusion of photovoltaic panels could lead to the near self-sustainability of buildings by decreasing the external energy demand. The results obtained by applying the methodology in a case study highlight that all these aspects must be taken into account simultaneously to improve the existing conditions of entire city areas, leading to a more sustainable urban environment.

To evaluate the energy and solar potential of the building stock and address feasibility studies of building retrofit interventions information standards are required to ensure proper data flow from building and urban models to simulation environments. Energy performance data are gathered from different information containers and therefore the result of simulations needs to be shared in BIM/GIS environments to better address energy policies and decision-making processes. Solar potential and energy retrofit estimation, developed by means of urban models (U-BEM) are too rough to support a decision-making process, even if at a feasibility stage. On the opposite, strategic decisions are defined with reference to large building stocks that require a U-BEM approach. To increase the reliability of this kind of simulations the study proposes to integrate U-BEMS with BIM-based data that are aggregated and published at urban scale as average performance indicators of built systems. The interoperability problem is analyzed both for simulation tools that need to manage this kind of data and openBIM/GIS platforms that need to share performance indicators and simulation results