Researchers studying urban climates aim to understand phenomena like urban heat islands (UHIs), which describe temperature differences between urban and rural areas. However, studies often lack numerous measurement points and frequently overlook parameters like radiation and air velocity due to the high cost of precision instrumentation. This results in data with a low resolution, particularly in tropical cities where official weather stations are scarce. This research introduces a new, low-tech tool for district-level outdoor thermal comfort assessment and UHI characterization to address these challenges. The automated weather station employs sensors to measure temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation, and globe temperature. The paper details these sensors’ rigorous selection and validation process, followed by a description of the sensor assembly, data acquisition chain, and network operation mechanisms. Calibration outcomes in laboratory and in situ environments highlight the station’s reliability, even in tropical conditions. In conclusion, this weather station offers a cost-effective solution to gathering high-resolution data in urban areas, enabling an improved understanding of the UHI phenomenon and the refinement of urban microclimate numerical models.

Adopting a multiscale approach is crucial for optimizing urban and building performance, prompting inquiries about the link between a technology’s local efficiency (building scale) and its broader impact (city-wide). To investigate this correlation and devise effective strategies for enhancing building and city energy performance, we experimentally examined a commercial nano-ceramic Thermal Barrier Coating (TBC) on a small-scale building and assessed numerically its influence on mitigating Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) at a city scale, translated in our case by the use of the thermal comfort index: the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). Our results reveal that the coating significantly curbs heat transfer locally, reducing surface temperatures by over 50 ${}^{\circ }$C compared to traditional roofs and attenuating more than 70% of heat flux, potentially alleviating air conditioning demands and associated urban heat effects. However, implementing such coatings across a city does not notably advance overall efficiency and might trigger minor overheating on thermal perception. Hence, while nano-ceramic coatings indirectly aid UHI mitigation, they are not a standalone fix; instead, an integrated strategy involving efficient coatings, sustainable urban planning, and increased vegetation emerges as the optimal path toward creating enduringly sustainable, pleasant, and efficient urban environments to counter urban heat challenges effectively.

Building solar protection regulations is essential to save energy in hot climates. The protection performance is assessed using a shading factor computation that models the sky irradiance and the geometry of shadow obstructing the surface of interest. While Building Information Modeling is nowadays a standard approach for practitioners, computing shadow geometry in BIM authoring tools is natively impossible. Methods to compute shadow geometry exist but are out of reach for the usual BIM authoring tool user because of algorithm complexity and non-friendly BIM implementation platform. This study presents a novel approach, dubbed solid clipping, to calculate shadow geometry accurately in a BIM authoring tool. The aim is to enhance project delivery by enabling solar control verification. This method is based on typical Computer Aided Design (CAD) in BIM authoring tools. The method is generic enough to be implemented using any BIM authoring tool’s visual and textual API. This work demonstrates that a thermal regulation, here the French overseas one, can be checked concerning solar protection, thanks to a BIM model. Beyond automation, this paper shows that, by directly leveraging the BIM model, designs presently not feasible by the usual process can be studied and checked.