Urban ventilation corridors - performance evaluation using remotely sensed data

This paper describes detection and evaluation of urban ventilation corridors and uses Warsaw as an example of dense, temperate - zone urban environment. The potential ventilation corridors are derived based on the roughness parameters mapping in three different epochs: 1992, 2002, 2011 and later compared to the designed and law-protected areas, which in theory, should form the system of ventilation and air exchange in Warsaw. These three years have been chosen based on the time when spatial planning law was introduced and different local zoning plans for Warsaw were passed, including preserved areas for the ventilation corridors. The roughness parameters mapping focuses mainly on frontal area index calculation and itis based on the building database partially derived from satellite imagery (SPOT). Comparison of the derived corridors with the officially planned preservation areas suggests inaccuracies in their extent, identifies obstacles that occurred over almost twenty years and calls for an evaluation. The proposed analysis might be used by local authorities to revise the shape of existing corridors and to recognise problematic areas, which could lead to better spatial management.