Project

PhD - Green infrastructure in cities and alleviation of urban heat

Generating usable design guidelines for climate responsive design is one of the main goals of the PhD research of Wiebke Klemm.

The project focused on green structures in the city: how they influence the physical and psychological thermal experience of people and how this new knowledge can be translated into design guidelines. The first phase of the project included field work on different types of urban green infrastructures (whole city, park and street scales). It combined on-site microclimate measurements, interviews with citizens and behavioural observations which provided a wealth of empirical evidence. In the last phase of the project Wiebke continued where most other research ceases: she translated the empirical evidence into design guidelines through a research through designing process. She involved students and professionals who tested the preliminary design guidelines on their comprehensibility, applicability and feasibility and came up with guidelines that are truly useful in urban design practice.

PhD research by Wiebke Klemm,
Funded by ‘Knowledge for Climate - Climate Proof Cities’ Dutch ‘kennisbasis’ project,
Supervisors: Bert van Hove, Sanda Lenzholzer

Full text PhD Wiebke Klemm.
More info on this PhD project.
Wiebke receives the ECLAS outstanding PhD student award 2014.