Abstract

The implementation of green roofs as a nature-based climate change mitigation strategy against is being urgently applied in many cities, as in addition to providing important and numerous benefits to the quality of public space, it offers reductions in the energy consumption of buildings, especially on hot or summer days. Valparaíso is a city in central zone of Chile, with a coastal Mediterranean climate. The thermal behavior and the presence of an atmospheric and surface heat island have been evaluated, in summer and winter, using urban transects and remote sensing. The atmospheric heat island has records of up to 5.2 ° C at 8 p.m., on sunny winter day, and up to 8.8 ° C on sunny summer day. Regarding the surface heat island, values of up to 4 °C have been recorded in winter and up to 6 °C in summer for sunny days at 2 p.m. In this paper, and as a way to mitigate these behaviors, local scenarios and strategies have been simulated through the implementation of green roofs in buildings in the city center, using the ENVI-met software. The results obtained from these simulations are presented, both to mitigate surface temperatures and air temperature in the city. The strategy of implementing green roofs is capable of reducing the surface temperatures of building roofs, but more significant is the reduction in air temperature at pedestrian level, favoring urban life. © 2024, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya. All rights reserved.