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tropical countries such as Brazil, this additional heat is usually not welcome (Barbosa
2010: Corbella 2011). While the study of urban form and its effect on local and regional
warming is important in this regard, it is equally important to enhance the quality of life in
urban streets to help city dwellers adapt to change. In this regard, urban planning and
design actions could be allies to improve outdoor comfort. In colder maritime climates
such as the case of Glasgow city, the heat island phenomenon could bring benefits in
terms of a possible reduction of energy consumption for heating, if provided appropriate
precautions are taken, such as monitoring the concentration of pollutants.
Glasgow City, United Kingdom, is Located in central-western Lowlands, on the River
Clyde, and is the largest and most populated city of Scotland. Glasgow (or Glas Cu,
usually interpreted as "dear green place") appeared in the sixth century as a village. In
the Midle Ages, the village eventually evolved
to
the bishopric of Glasgow, and later, the
founding of the University of Glasgow contributed not only to expand the city but also,
played an active role in the Scottish Enlightenment Movement (Glasgow City Council,
2012).
In the sixteenth century Glasgow suffered an economic boom, becoming an important
trading centre. In a survey carried on by the Historic Centre of Economic Activity, the
city’s economical core revolved around the trade in tobacco (BBC History, 2012). In the
eighteenth century the city of Glasgow achieved a significant volume of business, and
this development led to the emergence of a strong financial system - backed by the
establishment of new banks to finance such activities –, this process transformed the city
in an important centre of transatlantic trade with the Americas (Fisher, 1994). With the
Industrial Revolution the city and its surroundings experienced strong growth, there was
a proliferation of cotton mills, textile, glass, ceramics, paper, chemicals and soap. The
diversification of production also affected heavy industries such as shipbuilding,
construction of locomotives and heavy engineering - given the proximity of sources of
coal and iron ore -, in other words, it quickly became a leading centre of engineering and
shipbuilding. However, despite having been identified as one of the richest cities in
Europe, Glasgow was constantly plagued by social problems. As the population passed
the one million mark - in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (Glasgow City
Council 2012) -, the city attracted a large working population. All that growth, combined
with an unequal distribution of wealth, inevitably led to high crime rates, poverty and
disease. As an attempt to remediate these social problems, in the nineteenth century
rehabilitation processes were carried on in various regions of the city (Fisher, 1994),
among them we should mention the restructuring of neighbourhoods with the
construction of a gas supply and public lighting infrastructure - services like streetcars,
museums, libraries, art galleries and parks were also introduced. In the 1960’s
restructuring projects aiming at reducing the population in the city’s core relocated them
to new towns and suburbs on the city’s outskirts. Today Glasgow is among the major
financial centres of Europe.
The processes of economic expansion, degradation, restructuring and revitalization of
areas of the city, as well as the long history of urban growth and decline of its population
have left their mark on the urban environment, also changing its thermal properties.
Even today, the city of Glasgow has been undergoing a constant process of renewal with
the demolition and the consequent introduction of new buildings; all this makes it a fertile
field for study of the local climatic changes.
The aim of this work is to study the temperature field in the neighbourhood around the
“Glasgow School of Art” by checking two specific scenarios according to urban
morphology. The first one is the current situation and the other one includes the plans for
