Creating Electrified and Decarbonized Healthy Urban Microclimate around Building Clusters through Climate-Resilient Solutions
Project overview
Recognizing the urgent need to address climate-related risks, this project aims to bring together a team of international experts focusing on "urban microclimate," which refers to the immediate environment around building clusters. These areas pose various risks, such as icy sidewalks, power outages and overheating, but also present opportunities for harnessing wind and geothermal renewables.
The project plans to employ a combination of field measurements and advanced simulations to map the impacts of microclimate. This includes considering factors like the electrification of transportation to reduce emissions and improve air quality.
Moreover, the study’s approach involves generating extensive climate projections and applying advanced AI models to develop a comprehensive understanding of urban microclimate. The ultimate goal is to provide insights for developing measures, policies, and decisions to mitigate risks and ensure a climate-resilient future.
Key project details
| Principal investigator | Liangzhu (Leon) Wang, professor, Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, and director, Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies (CZEBS), Concordia University |
Co-principal investigators |
Ted Stathopoulos, professor, Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University; Hua Ge, professor, Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University; Biao Li, associate professor, Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University; Ghazanfarah Hafeez, assistant professor, Building, Civil, and Environmental Engineering, Concordia University; Jinqiu Yang, assistant professor, Computer Science and Software Engineering, Concordia University; Manar Amayri, assistant professor, Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University; Ben Amor, professor, Génie et bâtiment, Universite de Sherbrooke |
Research collaborators |
Shahin Masoumi Verki, Abhishek Gaur, Henry Lu, Abdelaziz Laouadi, Lili Ji, Lin Wang, Michael Lacasse, Heike Schreiber, Sylvie Leroyer, Stephane Belair, Craig Stroud, Ali Katal, Bin Xu, Wenxue Chen, Jasmin Raymond, Hubert Langevin, Nicolo Giordano, Tianzhen Hong |
| Non-academic partners | National Research Council, Environment and Climate Change Canada, SFTec Inc., Origin Geomechanics Inc., Géotherma Solutions Inc., US Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory |
| Research Keywords | Urban microclimate, building clusters, electrification, decarbonization, urban wind power, climate change, resilience, extreme weather |
| Budget | Cash: $320,000 In-Kind: $542,000 |
Publications:
S. Rayegan et al., “Development of a 3D ray tracing-based direct solar shading model for urban building energy simulation,” Renewable Energy, vol. 256, p. 123883, Jan. 2026, doi: 10.1016/j.renene.2025.123883.
A. Marey, J. Zou, S. Goubran, L. L. Wang, and A. Gaur, “Urban morphology impacts on urban microclimate using artificial intelligence – a review,” City and Environment Interactions, vol. 28, p. 100221, Dec. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.cacint.2025.100221.
T. Chen et al., “Machine learning as CFD surrogate models for rapid prediction of building-related physical fields: A review of methods and state-of-the-art,” Building and Environment, vol. 285, p. 113667, Nov. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.113667.
X. Hu et al., “Effects of different activation functions on multilayer perceptron performance for predicting indoor airflow fields,” Building and Environment, vol. 285, p. 113680, Nov. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.113680.
L. Li, A. Kross, C. D. Ziter, and U. Eicker, “Analyzing spatial patterns of urban green infrastructure for urban cooling and social equity,” Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, vol. 112, p. 128983, Oct. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.ufug.2025.128983.
A. Marey, L. L. Wang, A. Gaur, H. Lu, S. Leroyer, and S. Belair, “Urban climate simulation for extreme heat events – A comparison between WRF and GEM,” Urban Climate, vol. 63, p. 102570, Sept. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102570.
R. Li, J. Niu, Y. Zhao, L. (Leon) Wang, X. Shi, and N. Gao, “Wind tunnel experiments on the aerodynamic effects of a single potted tree: Hot-wire anemometry and PIV measurements,” Urban Climate, vol. 62, p. 102520, Aug. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.uclim.2025.102520.
D. Qi, L. L. Wang, M. Heidarinejad, and M. Hamdy, “Adapting building performance simulation for climate resilience: accounting for urban microclimates and future climates,” Journal of Building Performance Simulation, pp. 1–7, Aug. 2025, doi: 10.1080/19401493.2025.2540927.
F. Baba et al., “Field assessment of thermal conditions in naturally ventilated classrooms during spring: microclimate and passive cooling impacts in cold climate,” Smart and Sustainable Built Environment, pp. 1–25, Aug. 2025, doi: 10.1108/SASBE-03-2025-0142.
A. Marey, L. L. Wang, and S. Goubran, “Developing accurate land cover projection to accelerate the realization of SDG 11 in urbanized cities: a comparative study,” Clean Techn Environ Policy, Aug. 2025, doi: 10.1007/s10098-025-03297-4.
J. Zou, L. Wang, S. Yang, M. Lacasse, and L. (Leon) Wang, “Predicting long-term urban overheating and their Mitigations from nature based solutions using Machine learning and field measurements,” Energy and Buildings, vol. 338, p. 115720, July 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2025.115720.
R. Zmeureanu, H. Dou, H. Ge, L. Wang, and Z. Xie, “Thermal time constant estimation of unoccupied school buildings from field measurements over summer,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 104, p. 112311, June 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.jobe.2025.112311.
R. Li, Y. Zhao, L. (Leon) Wang, J. Niu, X. Shi, and N. Gao, “Fast fluid dynamics simulations of the drag effect of trees on airflow distributions,” Building and Environment, vol. 278, p. 113039, June 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.113039.
T. Potsis, A. Ricci, and T. Stathopoulos, “On the reliability of the dynamic terrain method to generate ABL winds for environmental applications,” Meccanica, vol. 60, no. 6, pp. 1789–1812, Jun. 2025, doi: 10.1007/s11012-024-01810-5.
N. Luo et al., “A data schema for exchanging information between urban building energy models and urban microclimate models in coupled simulations,” Journal of Building Performance Simulation, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 333–350, May 2025, doi: 10.1080/19401493.2022.2142295.
D. Al-Assaad et al., “Resilient passive cooling strategies during heat waves: A quantitative assessment in different climates,” Building and Environment, vol. 274, p. 112698, Apr. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112698.
S. Qin et al., “Modeling multivariable high-resolution 3D urban microclimate using localized Fourier neural operator,” Building and Environment, vol. 273, p. 112668, Apr. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112668.
J. Yu, T. Stathopoulos, and M. Li, “Discussion of ‘Wind-Tunnel Testing of Low- and Midrise Buildings under Heterogeneous Upwind Terrains,’” J. Struct. Eng., vol. 151, no. 4, p. 07025001, Apr. 2025, doi: 10.1061/JSENDH.STENG-14352.
S. Qin et al., “Modeling multivariable high-resolution 3D urban microclimate using localized Fourier neural operator,” Building and Environment, vol. 273, p. 112668, Apr. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112668.
D. Al-Assaad et al., “Resilient passive cooling strategies during heat waves: A quantitative assessment in different climates,” Building and Environment, vol. 274, p. 112698, Apr. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112698.
S. Tahmasebi, G. Tian, S. Qin, A. Marey, L. (Leon) Wang, and S. Rayegan, “Using diffusion models for reducing spatiotemporal errors of deep learning based urban microclimate predictions at post-processing stage,” Physics of Fluids, vol. 37, no. 3, p. 035173, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1063/5.0256658.
J. Zou, Y. Yu, M. Mortezazadeh, H. Lu, A. Gaur, and L. Wang, “Evaluating climate change impacts on building level steady-state and dynamic outdoor thermal comfort,” Building and Environment, vol. 271, p. 112604, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.112604.
S. Yan et al., “Implementing Bayesian inference on a stochastic CO2-based grey-box model,” Indoor Environments, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 100079, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.indenv.2025.100079.
F. A. Sakib, T. Stathopoulos, and A. K. Bhowmick, “Wind-induced loads on canopies attached to building walls,” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 258, p. 106019, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.jweia.2025.106019.
A. Athanasiou, L. Tirca, and T. Stathopoulos, “Wind design considerations for base-isolated post-disaster steel buildings in moderate seismic regions,” Journal of Constructional Steel Research, vol. 226, p. 109287, Mar. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.jcsr.2024.109287.
G. Tian, D. Geng, L. (Leon) Wang, T. (Ted) Stathopoulos, M. Wan, and S. Chen, “Influence of blockage ratios in shaping wind dynamics in urban environments,” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 257, p. 106008, Feb. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.jweia.2025.106008.
M. Li et al., “Cooling demand reduction with nighttime natural ventilation to cool internal thermal mass under harmonic design-day weather conditions,” Applied Energy, vol. 379, p. 124947, Feb. 2025, doi: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2024.124947.
D. Qi, D. Wang, Y. Wu, L. (Leon) Wang, and D. Derome, “Building physics process integrated renewables energy—Contributions from COBEE 2022,” Journal of Building Physics, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 469–472, Jan. 2025, doi: 10.1177/17442591241304276.
S. Rayegan et al., “Modeling building energy self-sufficiency of using rooftop photovoltaics on an urban scale,” Energy and Buildings, vol. 324, p. 114863, Dec. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.114863.
E. Norouzi, B. Li, L. L. Wang, J. Raymond, A. Gaur, and J. Zou, “Numerical evaluation of ground source heat pumps in a thawing permafrost region,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 98, p. 111035, Dec. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.jobe.2024.111035.
A. Marey et al., “Forecasting Urban Land Use Dynamics Through Patch-Generating Land Use Simulation and Markov Chain Integration: A Multi-Scenario Predictive Framework,” Sustainability, vol. 16, no. 23, p. 10255, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.3390/su162310255.
R. Li et al., “Numerical simulation methods of tree effects on microclimate: A review,” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 205, p. 114852, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.rser.2024.114852.
P. Gholamalipour, H. Ge, and T. Stathopoulos, “Impact of upstream buildings on Wind-Driven Rain Loading: Refining Obstruction Factor in ISO semi-empirical model based on CFD,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 97, p. 110717, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.jobe.2024.110717.
R. Li, Y. Zhao, L. (Leon) Wang, J. Niu, X. Shi, and N. Gao, “Numerical investigation of the blockage effect of trees on airflow distributions in a wind tunnel,” Building and Environment, vol. 263, p. 111848, Sep. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111848.
A. Athanasiou, L. Tirca, and T. Stathopoulos, “Directional alongwind and crosswind effects on the performance of a 15-storey steel braced frame building in seismic environment,” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 251, p. 105790, Aug. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.jweia.2024.105790.
T. Luo et al., “Fourier neural operator for large eddy simulation of compressible Rayleigh–Taylor turbulence,” Physics of Fluids, vol. 36, no. 7, p. 075165, Jul. 2024, doi: 10.1063/5.0213412.
S. Yang, D. Zhan, T. Stathopoulos, J. Zou, C. Shu, and L. L. Wang, “Urban microclimate prediction based on weather station data and artificial neural network,” Energy and Buildings, vol. 314, p. 114283, Jul. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.114283.
S. Rayegan et al., “Achieving carbon neutrality at single and multi-building complex levels – A review,” Energy and Buildings, vol. 314, p. 114263, Jul. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.enbuild.2024.114263.
I. Reda et al., “Exploring high-rise preventive ventilation: Experimental investigation of inter-zone air pressurization with tracer gas analysis,” Building and Environment, vol. 258, p. 111566, Jun. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111566.
A. Machard et al., “Typical and extreme weather datasets for studying the resilience of buildings to climate change and heatwaves,” Sci Data, vol. 11, no. 1, p. 531, May 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41597-024-03319-8.
X. Zhang, I. Reda, M. Aram, D. Qi, L. (Leon) Wang, and H. Fellouah, “Wind-driven smoke dispersion in rooftop photovoltaic fires: An experimental investigation with helium smoke,” Journal of Building Engineering, vol. 83, p. 108467, Apr. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.jobe.2024.108467.
J. Yu, T. Stathopoulos, and M. Li, “Impact of upstream fetch on environmental wind engineering applications,” Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 247, p. 105704, Apr. 2024, doi: 10.1016/j.jweia.2024.105704.
T. Potsis and T. Stathopoulos, “Evaluation of Wind Flow and Structural Loads by the Dynamic Terrain Approach,” SSRN Journal, 2024, doi: 10.2139/ssrn.4944018.
M. Aldoum and T. Stathopoulos, “Wind Pressures on Non-Curved and Non-Rectangular Roofs,” SSRN Journal, 2024, doi: 10.2139/ssrn.5038839.
Accepted publications in national and international conferences:
L. L. Wang, “The Rise of Quantum Computing -- Take a BITE for Built Environment and Micro Climate Research,” Sept. 2025.
L. L. Wang, “Influence of Upstream Fetch for Environmental Wind Engineering,” Aug. 2025.
L. L. Wang, “ISO Wall Factor Refinement for Wind-Driven Rain on Buildings: CFD-based Machine Learning Models,” Aug. 2025.
L. L. Wang, “Process in Assessing Wind Loads on Roof-mounted Solar Panels: Research and Standards,” Aug. 2025.
L. L. Wang, “Wind Turbulence in the Built Environment via CPU and GPU Based LES,” Aug. 2025.
L. L. Wang, “A Comprehensive Experimental Study through Building-Integrated Wind Turbines,” July 2025.
L. L. Wang, “Optimization of Airflow Mixing based on Taguchi, ANOVA and GRA Methods,” July 2025.
L. L. Wang, “A Hybrid Approach for Urban Microclimate Modeling for Environmental and Structural Applications,” July 2025.
L. L. Wang, “Multi-objective Optimization of Airflow Mixing in various Distribution Systems with Taguchi-based Grey Relational Analysis: Application in a Classroom,” June 2025.
S. Qin, D. Geng, J. Vogel, A. Afshari, and L. (Leon) Wang, “Deep Learning for Urban Microclimate Downscaling: From Coarse WRF Data to Building-Resolved PALM Simulations,” May 2025. doi: 10.5194/icuc12-568.
J. Zou, L. Wang, S. Yang, M. Lacasse, and L. Wang, “Evaluating the Impacts of Natural Based Soluations on Long-term Urban Overheating through Machine Learning and Field Measurements,” May 2025. doi: 10.5194/icuc12-310.
A. Marey et al., “Spatiotemporal Urban Morphology Prediction: A Conditional Diffusion Model Approach,” May 2025. doi: 10.5194/icuc12-506.
S. Rayegan, L. (Leon) Wang, and R. G. Zmeureanu, “Urban-scale modeling of building energy self-sufficiency using rooftop photovoltaics,” May 2025. doi: 10.5194/icuc12-186.
L. L. Wang, “Validation of Turbulence Inflow Generation Methods for Wind Loads Prediction on a Generic Tall Building via LES,” May 2025.
Reports:
Université de Sherbrooke et al., “International Energy Agency - Resilient Cooling of Buildings - Field Studies Report (Annex 80),” Institute of Building Research & Innovation, 2024. doi: 10.52776/JIIT7246.
Institute of Building Research & Innovation et al., “International Energy Agency - Resilient Cooling of Buildings - Key Performance Indicators Report (Annex 80),” Institute of Building Research & Innovation, 2024. doi: 10.52776/RHET5776.
Book chapters:
K. Zheng et al., “A State-Of-The-Art Review on Scaling and Similarity Analysis of Thermal Flow in the Built Environment Using Helium Gas,” in Multiphysics and Multiscale Building Physics, vol. 553, U. Berardi, Ed., in Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol. 553. , Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2025, pp. 541–549. doi: 10.1007/978-981-97-8309-0_73.
O. Ahmed, L. Wang, and I. G. Hassan, “A Surrogate Urban Building Energy Model for Predicting Cooling Energy Consumption in a Hot and Arid Climate,” in Multiphysics and Multiscale Building Physics, vol. 553, U. Berardi, Ed., in Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, vol. 553. , Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore, 2025, pp. 156–170. doi: 10.1007/978-981-97-8309-0_21.
Iris Guan: Canadian Young Leaders for Climate Resilience Program, Standards Council of Canada, October 6, 2025.
Theodore Stathopoulos: Research Impact Award, Concordia University, May 28, 2025.
Sohail Akhtar: Best paper presentation award, 23th Global Joint Seminar on GeoEnvironmental Engineering (GEE 2025), May 22-23, 2025.
Liangzhu Leon Wang: Provost's Circle of Distinction, Concordia University, April 22, 2025.
Liangzhu Leon Wang: ASHRAE Fellow, American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, February 9, 2025.
Research focus
Decarbonization and electrification
This project aims to initialize the long-term plan of “electrification and decarbonization” while achieving healthy and climate-resilient urban microclimates for Canadian building communities. As part of the measurable targets, the study will analyze climate, weather and urban characteristics from Canadian cities under various social-economic conditions.
Resilience to extreme weather
By incorporating climate-resilient solutions, the project reduces damage and disruption from extreme weather events such as heatwaves, storms and winds.
Energy efficiency
The project's comprehensive understanding of urban microclimates will help assess building energy consumption more accurately. With this knowledge, communities can optimize energy usage and reduce overall demand, leading to greater energy sustainability.
Non-academic partners
Thank you to our non-academic partners for your support and trust.
Volt-Age is funded by a $123-million grant from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund.
