The impact of courtyard compact urban fabric on its shading: case study of Mosul city, Iraq

The courtyard pattern provides a comfortable environment in hot regions through supporting natural ventilation and protecting buildings from solar radiation. But, its performance depends on its urban fabric compactness as it affects surfaces’ heat gain resulted from the solar radiation. The impact of urban compactness on urban shading is tested by simulating traditional compact and modern less compact neighborhoods in Mosul. Results from two sunlight simulation systems, Autodesk 3DS Max 2014 and LightUp Analytics, demonstrated that courtyard neighborhoods are nearly three times more compact than the modern neighborhoods. This leads to having five times larger shaded area, which helps to offer a more thermally comfortable environment.