Effect of Urban Design for Residential Complexes on the Efficiency of Environmental Performance and Carbon Emissions

Carbon emissions have greatly affected global warming and global climate change, which made environmental protection institutions repeatedly call for the importance of reducing carbon emissions. Urbanization is considered one of the most important causes of the increase in these carbon emissions because it consumes non-renewable energy to reach thermal comfort rates inside and outside buildings, in addition to the carbon emissions resulting from the building and finishing materials used in it. Thus, urban design is considered one of the most important factors affecting the quality of life in residential complexes, not only on the extent of road planning and open and closed spaces but also on the scope of the impact of urban design of residential complexes on environmental performance and the proportion of carbon dioxide emissions, which is what the research deals with to study. The research aims to study the effect of urban design on thermal performance and the proportion of carbon dioxide emissions into the air within residential complexes. The importance of the research is to shed light on the importance of urban design for residential complexes in influencing the efficiency of environmental performance within those communities, which will be directly reflected on human health, and the surrounding environment, and its repercussions on global warming to achieve more sustainable urban communities. The research uses the experimental and analytical approach through an urban design for three models of urban communities, in which the same variables are combined (heights, percentage of built areas, percentage of open areas, percentage of green areas, type of plants used in open spaces, finishing materials for the outer cover of the building as well as roads and corridors with open spaces), with one variable differs in it, which is the urban design for the distribution and shape for (three urban design models), with the aim of knowing the extent of the impact of the urban design of buildings on environmental performance and the proportion of carbon dioxide, as previously mentioned Envi-Met program was used to simulate this relationship. The results of the research have been concluded that the model (3) (the courtyard design) has the best thermal and environmental performance among the three models (from achieving thermal comfort rates and carbon dioxide emissions), followed by model (2) (Stripe and vertical design).