A new platform takes into account the impact of community spaces, gardens and other realms on local microclimates. Planning & Development Manager Gwyn Richards outlines the project and an ADEPT President’s Awards win for Innovation in Place Shaping.
Several years ago, The City of London embarked on a research initiative to better understand the microclimatic conditions of the Square Mile. Given the rapidly changing and densifying City with the evolving cluster of towers, the increased importance of public spaces and the challenges of climate change the investigation was vital and evolved from our City-wide Wind Modelling project.
Our research identified areas of heat stress in hot summers and future global temperature increases were included which revealed the future heat stress map of the City. This in turn facilitated the Cool Street projection for tree planting and landscaping, forming part of the City’s Climate Action and Resilience Strategy.
Although Thermal Comfort modelling was initially intended to be a ground-breaking tool to deliver better outcomes in negotiating planning schemes, it soon became obvious to our team that it had the potential to be applied to multiple areas.
It is a digital, algorithm based tool which enhances the understanding of the microclimatic qualities of public spaces and provides methodology to assess the impact of developments on that microclimate. Merging complex wind, sunlight, temperature and humidity data at a seasonal level to obtain a deeper understanding of Thermal Comfort, it identifies how the microclimatic character of a place actually feels to the public.
The data is collated through 3D Digital modelling, Computer Fluid Dynamics, climatic data, Wind Tunnel testing and humidity modelling. These are combined in an algorithm-based series of metrics and criteria. As a process it is both innovative and imaginative as it quantifies how a human experiences the microclimate i.e. the ‘real feel’ factor across seasons, and the criteria is used to ensure decisions on planning and infrastructure.
The Thermal Comfort Guidelines enables the City to proactively negotiate schemes by ensuring the scale and massing of buildings do not diminish public spaces. Such as negatively impacting sunlight levels or causing undesirable wind conditions and other microclimatic impacts. It is also a key planning tool in negotiating free to visit elevated public spaces.
It enables the City to ensure that future developments exploit, enhance and enlarge high quality sunny tranquil public spaces; locating cafes and play areas to minimize both heat and cold seasonal stress.
After initial piloting the technique is now an integral part of the planning process on applications, policy and public realm schemes. Schemes using the modelling are delivering spaces that achieve the highest quality microclimatic conditions, prioritising pedestrians and cycling delivering a more humane, gentler City whilst being resilient to Climate Change.
It has helped to forge and deliver the City’s radical and award-winning policy to re-imagine public spaces delivering free to visit inclusive elevated public roof gardens and terraces and democratising the best views for everyone to enjoy.
The methodology of the Thermal Comfort modelling can be adapted to be used by other Local Authorities for work in planning and public space provision. In addition, our work is now becoming internationally renowned, and we often host delegations from Singapore, Toronto, Brazil, Sweden and Finland who are keen to understand and apply Thermal Comfort modelling in their cities.
We were delighted to win the award for Innovation in Place Shaping at the ADEPT President’s Awards for our initiative. These are prestigious and nationally significant awards that celebrate the best in public service and achievements, and it was a privilege for the City working alongside our consultants RWDI to be recognised.
The judges’ comments identified the incredible work our team has been able to achieve, and I would highly recommend that Local Authorities put their teams and projects forward for the awards in 2026. The exposure and networking opportunities alone are worth the time taken to craft a submission that reflects your innovative work.
The evening itself allowed us to connect with many like-minded organisations and authorities and we have built connections and conversations from those encounters to support future public space improvements across the UK.
Gwyn Richards, Planning and Development Director at City of London Corporation reflects on the project, it’s evolution and the impact of winning.
Image: David Hughes / Unsplash
More Case Studies, Features and Industry Insight:
As UN Plastic Treaty talks resume, UK single-use demand grows
Quick question: how bad is climate change for the UK economy?
Wait, are we looking at the wrong Biodiversity Net Gain solutions?
