Desert Cities - Micro Climate
Urban climate analysis - UTCI and Scenario modeling
Ben Gurion Boulevard, Be'er Sheva Innovation District January 2025
In this project, we set out to understand how urban design decisions shape the way people experience climate in public spaces. Our focus was Ben Gurion Boulevard in the heart of the Innovation District, where we explored the question:
How can improve thermal comfort in a desert city through design?
To investigate, we analyzed used the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) - a measure of how hot or cold the weather feels to the human body, factoring in temperature, wind, humidity and radiant heat. Using this index, we mapped the comfort levels of public spaces and tested different future scenarios:
* What happens if we add trees along the boulevard?
* How does comfort change if buildings gain extra floors?
* What if parking lots are transformed into high-rises?
By comparing these scenarios, we reveal the powerful role design choices play in shaping everyday comfort in desert environments.
3D scanning was used to model the urban space and visualize the shading scenarios.
The findings are brought to life through a projection on the Ben Gurion Boulevard model at the NUR Lab.
Team
Gitit Linker
Maya Habib Allah
Yonatan Cohen
Merav Battat
Ariel Noyman (MIT)
Adam Havkin (Scan the City)
Collaborating Organizations
Be’er Sheva Innovation District, Be’er Sheva Municipality
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