Building a global database on architecture and construction materials for urban climate models: a crowdsourcing initiative

Urban areas with their high population density and urban heat islands (UHI), are increasingly vulnerable to heat waves under future climate scenarios. Urban climate models are essential for quantifying the potential benefits of strategies to mitigate UHI and support climate adaptation efforts. Buildings are pivotal in thermal exchanges within urban environments, making detailed building information crucial for the accuracy of urban climate models.

Frameworks for generating urban morphological parameters already exist, such as land cover classifications like Local Climate Zones (LCZ) or tools like Geoclimate, which computes detailed parameters from Open Street Map cadaster. But there is a critical lack of details on materials, insulation, and Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems. The Global Data Set of Urban and Building Properties, the only global database on building materials, aggregates regions into 33 zones, limiting geographical precision.

To address this gap, we developed a crowdsourcing approach to collect building data worldwide at the country scale. A global survey was designed to describe buildings by their typology based on country, use (residential, commercial, office, and industrial), and form (low-rise, mid-rise, high-rise, and large low-rise). Despite existing variability, these typologies capture major architectural trends and construction practices within each area. Key data collected encompassed building envelope characteristics (walls, roof, windows and potential insulation layers) and the presence of HVAC systems.

As of February 2025, the survey, available in 11 languages, received 510 responses from 139 countries, offering significant global coverage. Residential building typologies were defined for each country, with gaps filled using neighboring data. For non-residential buildings, globally applicable typologies were derived from the responses. Further work could enhance regional specificity. This valuable resource for urban climate modeling will be freely available in GIS and CSV formats, enabling more accurate climate assessments and informed urban planning decisions worldwide.