Green zones, bioclimatics studies and human comfort in the future development of urban planning

Abstract This work sums up the methodology used and the work plan for verifying the role played by “green zones” in comfort in the city of Valencia, taken as a prototype of the Mediterranean city. Starting from an analysis of the city’s climatological situation, a study is made of the performance of several internationally well-known “comfort indices” in a number of city districts considered to be characteristic, and defining the urban situation as a whole. Some of these comfort indices were formulated by green zones and it was later possible to find out the required size of such green zones for each district, in order for these to be theoretically considered comfortable. This methodology is considered valid as a tool for planners of big cities, in the design of green zones.