Methodology for microclimatic urban canyon design case study surrounding MUST university campus in Cairo

Climate change is a major issue all over the world which has a great impact on global warming especially in countries with hot arid climates like Egypt. With rapid urbanization, streets in Greater Cairo and new cities are mostly car-oriented, which increases the Urban Heat Island(UHI) and, hence, affects the overall outdoor thermal comfort. Looking at the urban development in recent years, almost 10 new private universities are in operation in Cairo’s new cities together with a number of large recreational projects where they lack the appropriate vegetation surrounding their borders which in turn increases the UHI effect, decreasing the walkability’s thermal comfort and in turn contributes poorly to the surrounding climate. This paper focuses on the urban canyons in streets surrounding universities as they usually have high traffic rates in terms of both vehicular and pedestrian flows. This large flow of pedestrians necessitates taking into consideration the thermal comfort of the users. MUST University in the Al-Motamayez district on the 6th of October city was chosen as a case study. This case study is considered the basis for achieving an understanding and developing a methodology approach for such studies by using Envi-Met software for the simulation of different scenarios focusing on choosing trees appropriate to the climate zone of the city. Results for the simulation of suggested scenarios of intervention show a 30% improvement toward thermal comfort, which could be considered a first step for future guidelines development toward achieving thermal comfort and decreasing UHI. © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.