THE 1 FACTOR HOW CITIES CAN OVERCOME GLOBAL WARMING
Cosimo Scotucci 1
ALBEDO
latin: whiteness
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ASKING THE QUESTION:
What albedo is, and how it influences our daily life?
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ALBEDO IS THE MEASURE OF THE DIFFUSE REFLECTION OF SOLAR RADIATION OUT OF THE TOTAL SOLAR RADIATION RECEIVED BY AN ASTRONOMICAL BODY. IT IS DIMENSIONLESS AND MEASURED ON A SCALE FROM 0, CORRESPONDING TO A BLACK BODY THAT ABSORBS ALL THE INCIDENT RADIATION TO 1, CORRESPONDING TO A BODY THAT REFLECTS ALL THE INCIDENT RADIATION
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The term albedo was introduced for the first time by Johann Heinrich Lambert in the 1670 in is work Photometria studing the optics.
This number defines the natural propriety of any material to reflect the radiation recived
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PLANET EARTH
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For astronomical bodies the mesurement is made on 2 albedos: the geometrical albedo, measuring brightness when illumination comes from directly behind the observer and bond albedo measuring total proportion of electromagnetic energy reflected.
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The average albedo of the Earth from the upper atmosphere, is 30% but widely varies locally across the surface because of different geological and environmental features
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Geometry is also a factor that influences the way an a object reflect the incident radiation
Different angles of incidence of the radiation affects the reflectivity. Latitude influences albedo
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The presence of clouds give a significant contribution to increase the planetary albedo
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Earth’s total land mass is approximately 148,939,063.133 km2 about 29.2% of its total surface. Water covers approximately 70.8% of Earth’s surface, mainly in the form of oceans and ice formations.
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Any albedo in visible light falls within a range of 90% for fresh snow to 0,04% for charcoal. Artic and antartic regions are the most reflective on the planet while the oceans are the least.
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The most reflective surface is 25.7 times smaller than the most absorbing one on the planet.
ANTARCTICA 14 MILION KM2
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OCEANS 360 MILION KM2
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Climate change, caused by an increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, produced by the human activities, is causing a global temperature incrementation.
Planet average surface temperature has risen about 0,9 degrees Celsius. Trend is keep on growing
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The rising of temperature is causing in first instance the melting and darkening of the poles ice in the Arctic and Antarctica
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Human activities such as farming, deforestation and growing urbanization together with use of fossil fuels are the main causes of the global warming
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Global warming is generating concatenate events that are driving to a catastrophic scenario
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MAN-MADE ARTEFACTS:
How the albedo relates to human constructions?
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Humans settlements cover a total surface of 5 millions of square kilometers that is approximately the 3% of the entire planet surface
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The covered surface of urban areas on the planet is quickly growing every year
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CITIES
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The most densest and biggest cities of the World are spread out around the tropical and subtropical area of the planet
Tokyo is the larger city in the World with a population of almost 38 milion of inhabitants
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Those areas are the ones in which the angle of incidence of the solar radiation is more perpendicular to the planet surface
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WHAT IS A CITY MADE OF?
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HOW THE ALBEDO INEVITABLY WILL CHANGE ARCHITECTURE IN THE FUTURE?
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BUILDING THE SCENARIOS: How the future will look like?
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TWO LAYOUTS SEEM POSSIBLE
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1:
A DYSTOPIAN FUTURE WILL BE THE CONSEQUENTIAL OUTCOME OF HUMAN BEINGS WILL NOT DRASTICALLY CHANGE THEIR HABITS AND FIGHT AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING.
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If the ice at the poles will keep on melting and getting darker human made artefacts are going to be called to respond and contribute to increased planetary reflection
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Dark colors with a lower lever of reflection will be the first to disappear and subsequently all the shades of color will turn to white.
White is clearly the color with the highest albedo value comparing to all the others of the spectrum
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Simplicity of form will homogenize the architecture all around the world trying to limit the number of hits the radiation will do on the planet.
Every time the radiation’s wave hits a surface part of the radiation is absorbed by the surface
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ALL THE BUILDING SHAPES WILL TURN INTO BOXES TO MAXIMISE THE PERCENTAGE OF REFLECTION. EVERY COLOR WILL BE TURNED TO WHITE TO LIMIT THE ABSORSION OF RADIATION. ARCHITECTURAL DIFFERENTIATION WILL NOT LONGER EXISTS
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PANAMA 2028
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COPENHAGEN 2041
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2:
AN HEDONISTIC FUTURE WILL BE, INSTEAD, THE RESULT OF MORE OCULATED HUMAN BEHAVIORS.
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HOW CAN WE USE THE HUMAN ARTEFACTS IN AN ACTIVE WAY TO CONTRIBUTE TO A BETTER ENVIRONMENT?
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The 40% out of the total radiation hits the ground. That surface in an urbanized area correspond to streets, plazas and sidewalks.
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Black elements on white backgrounds create a positive polar display, this facilitates performances.
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Due the higher overall display luminance black objects on white are more visible than the opposite
Every signal on the street will be more visible helping to have a more safe street environment
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A positive polar display will cause benefits for both, human driven vehicles and driverless car.
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Enlarging the pedestrian and cyclable area of a the city will create a city itself that will be more sustainable, promting people to walk or use alternative trasportation systems. The color of sidewalks and paving can be easily controlled and managed.
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More livable and pedestrian space can host public functions such us parks and playgrounds and private investors can use the space for their activity like caffè sits or displays.
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Concerning to constructions the larger ratio of the incident radiation hits rooftops
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Painting rooftops in white will downcrease the internal temperature and consequently save money in cooling it down
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TO PAINT ALL THE ROOFTOPS IN WHITE IS OF COURSE A SUSTAINABLE STRATEGY THAT CAN BE ADOPTED EVEN BY A SYSTEMATIC “DO IT YOURSELF” APPROACH. HOW THIS APPROACH CAN BE PUSHED TO SOCIAL AND ECONOMICAL VALUES? CAN BE THE SUSTAINABILITY ENJOYABLE?
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ROOFTOPS CATALOGUE
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ENJOYABLE SUSTAINABILITY
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Please don’t print this booklet out, think to the Planet first!
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Cosimo Scotucci Rotterdam, 2018
cosimoscotucci@gmail.com 83