Simulation of Shading in Urban Neighborhoods Using GIS (Case study: Sanandaj, Adab neighborhood)

The issue of energy crisis is considered as one of the main problems of this century. This has led to increased attention to renewable energy. In this regard, several solutions have been proposed to decrease the use of fuel and make more use of clean energy, including solar energy in various fields. On the other hand, in recent decades, most of the cities have expanded unprecedentedly. In many cases, physical expansion has resulted in high congestion, environmental pollution, and waste of time, fuel, and energy. Therefore, experts have proposed high-rise construction as one of the appropriate solutions for the development of cities (Cheng et al. 2006). While tall buildings, especially in large cities, due to shading, affect the amount of sunlight to their surroundings (Andreou, 2014; Jose et.al, 2011; Hayati and Sayadi, 2012). Therefore, high-rise construction should be done in a way that does not reduce the use of solar energy as much as possible. In addition to lowering the temperature of the building, the shade also makes it difficult for snow to melt naturally and rainwater to evaporate. With proper design of buildings in order to benefit from sunlight, the consumption of fossil fuels in buildings, especially in cold seasons and cold regions, is reduced to some extent. The effect of shading on the surrounding environment depends on various factors such as the height of the buildings and the distance between them. The taller a building is, the longer its shadow. In addition, the length of the shadow varies in different seasons; The longest shade occurs on the first day of winter. In this research, shading with real three-dimensional data of Adab 2 neighborhood of Sanandaj city, which includes several buildings, has been investigated. Sanandaj is the capital of Kurdistan Province in Iran, with a population of 412767 (in 1395). The selected study area is one of the areas where the rate of density and construction is relatively high and the issue of shading has not been given enough attention. In addition, the mountainous nature of the region and its cold climate have increased the need for sunlight, especially in cold seasons. This area has a latitude of 35 degrees and 17 minutes to 35 degrees and 18 minutes and a longitude of 46 degrees and 59 minutes to 47 degrees and 00 minutes east of the Greenwich meridian. Until the present study, no article on the practical use of GIS for shading in the country had been published in the relevant journals.