A new approach to represent heritage buildings in hectometric mesoscale models for the urban environment

Historic variations in building regulations and practices influence the thermal properties of the urban fabric, yet these are often neglected or oversimplified in current urban weather forecasting models. Aspects, such as building material and insulation values, vary greatly across building periods which results in certain parts of the current building stock to be more vulnerable to climatic changes than others.

However, current urban mesoscale models often overlook these variations in physical properties, relying on generic classifications such as Local Climate Zones (LCZs). To improve model forecasting accuracy of the urban meteorology, numerical models need to account for the spatial variation of thermal properties in the building stock that are a result of different building periods.

Using Amsterdam as a case, we create 10 heritage building classes based on data from the Dutch cadastre and an extensive literature review on historical building regulations and practices in the Netherlands. All buildings in the city are categorised by building age and GIS techniques are used to process the spatial data into novel heritage maps. A table with typical values of thermal properties for each heritage building class are created and are together with the heritage maps implemented into the Weather Research and Forecasting Model (WRF). We study the model’s sensitivity to the buildings’ thermal properties and validate the model’s accuracy using measured meteorological data from the Amsterdam Atmospheric Monitoring Supersite (AAMS).

Our modelling approach has the potential to reveal previously undetected areas vulnerable to temperature extremes which may require new policies and additional adaptation action. Some vulnerable buildings may be designated as ‘cultural heritage’, implying limitations in adaptations on the building itself, thus requiring new urban planning strategies. These findings may also be useful for future urban constructions and development.