Aerodynamic phenomena that occurs around building developments exert a significant impact on the quality of climate in cities. Environmental wind engineering is a dynamically developing field of knowledge that offers a chance to study and, in consequence, regulates the air flow around buildings and complexes of building developments. The following paper discusses the issue of wind conditions that may be experienced on pedestrian...

Possibilities for energy-efficient, natural ventilation of buildings in an urban environment depend on the airflow around them. This chapter deals with the issue of dependence of air exchange in urban spaces on the building forms used in them and on relative position of these buildings. The authors focused on the problem of air stagnation in dense urban development. This phenomenon increases the energy demand of buildings. The...

The progress of the architecture and urbanism raises problems requiring interdisciplinary research conducted with the use of advanced experimental techniques and computer simulation. The fields of this research include aerodynamics, especially in intensively developed area of Environmental Wind Engineering (EWE). Aerodynamic phenomena occurring around buildings have a significant impact on the quality of the climate in the cities....

“The struggle for light” is how the Swiss architect Le Corbusier described the history of architecture in 1935. Today, with the skies crowded out by buildings in modern cities, those words should ring in the ears of policymakers and planners. Skyscraper construction is booming. China is the leader, last year completing 88 of the 143 buildings around the world that are taller than 200 metres (see ‘Vertical growth’). As the nation’s...

The following article addresses the issue of wind conditions around urban building development at pedestrian level. Factors that depend on those issues include wind comfort and air quality within urbanized spaces. The conditions specific of cities located in a temperate climate zone have been taken into account. The article is intended to identify aerodynamic phenomena characteristic of the three basic types of multi-family building...