On-Site Measurements of Temperature and Humidity Conditions for the Comparison of Urban and Rural Sub-Spaces of Traditional Settlements: Historical City of Muğla, Turkey

ABSTRACT

One of the significant processes that ensures realistic determination of the energy needs of historical buildings is case-specific definition of their local microclimatic conditions. Accordingly, the aim of this study is to determine differences for the parameters of temperature and humidity in urban and rural sub-settlements of the historical city, Muğla/Turkey. Study method consists of on-site measurements of these variables in sub-settlements for comparisons. As a result, it was identified urban zone shows heat island characteristics with warmer, drier, and more stable conditions; while rural sub-settlement remains cooler, more humid, and more erratic. In parallel, calculated extents of these differences demonstrate the significance and necessity of on-site measurements and consequential microclimatic zoning of historical cities as conservation/planning tools for responding to the thermal needs of architectural heritage. A key application of these processes would be the establishment of local databases of case-specific weather data to be used in thermal simulation assessments.

KEYWORDS:

• Experimental measurements
• Historical cities
• Traditional buildings
• Turkey
• Urban heat Island
• Urban/rural settlement

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank to the Calibration Laboratory of İzmir Chamber of Mechanical Engineers, Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University and Turkish State Meteorological Service/Muğla and İzmir Directorates for their assistance.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by B-type Scientific Research Project Funding of İzmir Institute of Technology (IZTECH) [2016IYTE66].