The influence of high-rise buildings on pedestrian-level wind in surrounding street canyons in an urban renewal project

The pedestrian wind environment in a street canyon is affected by a multitude of factors, including the height and geometric shape of the surrounding buildings, the street width, the wind direction, and speed. Wind-tunnel tests were performed to determine the effects of constructing high buildings in an urban renewal project in New Taipei City, Taiwan on the pedestrian wind environments in the surrounding street canyons. The results show that replacing the original low-rise buildings with high-rise buildings could decrease the wind speed and natural ventilation potential in certain surrounding street canyons. The flow fields generated by approaching winds in various street canyons are highly complex in this practical case study. Thus, the pedestrian wind patterns in the street canyons cannot be interpreted in terms of channeling and shielding effects alone, as is typically reported in the literature.