STEVE Tool: Bridging the Gap between Urban Climatology Research and Urban Planning Process

In the past decades, urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon in the city and its corresponding issues including the mitigation methods have become the main research topics in the area of urban climatology. Researchers have conducted various investigations and measurements in which as the results, they have come out with various prediction models for different purposes. Nevertheless, these prediction models are too complicated for educated non-scientists, in this case the urban planners. At the end, these models remain in the academic domain, unless the scientists are engaged and involve in the urban planning process. There is a gap between scientists and planners. The Screening Tool for Estate Environment Evaluation (STEVE) has been developed as an effort to bridge between urban climatology research, in this case the urban temperature, and urban planning process. In the near future, the STEVE Tool will become an interactive design tool where the urban planners design the building massing and do the urban temperature prediction at the same platform and time. This paper also discusses the prospective of urban climatic analysis tool that lies on how to analyze the interaction between buildings and their surrounding environments as an integrated urban design process.