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Urban Physics
Last Updated: 2026-06-01 11:30:32
Abstract
Urban physics: wind, wind comfort, pollutant dispersion, natural ventilation, driving rain, heat islands, climate change and weather conditions, urban acoustics and energy use in the urban context.
Objective
- Basic knowledge of the global climate and the local microclimate around buildings - Impact of urban environment on wind, ventilation, rain, pollutants, acoustics and energy, and their relation to comfort, durability, air quality and energy demand - Application of urban physics concepts in urban design
Content
- Climate Change. The Global Picture: global energy balance, global climate models, the IPCC process. Towards regional climate scenarios: role of spatial resolution, overview of approaches, hydrostatic RCMs, cloud-resolving RCMs - Urban micro climate and comfort: urban heat island effect, wind flow and radiation in the built environment, convective heat transport modelling, heat balance and ventilation of urban spaces - impact of morphology, outdoor wind comfort, outdoor thermal comfort, - Urban energy and urban design. Energy performance of building quarters and cities, decentralized urban energy production and storage technologies, district heating networks, optimization of energy consumption at district level, effect of the micro climate, urban heat islands, and climate change on the energy performance of buildings and building blocks. - Wind driving rain (WDR): WDR phenomena, WDR experimental and modeling, wind blocking effect, applications and moisture durability - Pollutant dispersion. pollutant cycle : emission, transport and deposition, air quality - Urban acoustics. noise propagation through the urban environment, meteorological effects, urban acoustic modeling, noise reduction measures, urban vegetation - Practical exercise on climatic data collection and analyze
Resources
Lecture Notes
The course lectures and material are provided online via Moodle.
Learning Materials (Links)
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- graded semester performance
- Digital
- The exam takes place on devices provided by ETH Zurich.
Registration & Places
- Max Places
- 136
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| lecture with exercise |
Urban Physics
This course will be offered for the last time in the Autumn Semester 2025.
No course on 23.10 due to Seminar Week (Architecture)
|
|
3 h weekly |