Vidanapathirana, M; Perera, N; Emmanuel, R and Coorey, S (2025) High-rise building density optimization for air quality improvement and investment potential. Built Environment Project and Asset Management, 15(3), pp. 467-482. ISSN 2044-124X
Abstract
Purpose: Air pollution and air quality are key environmental factors that impact an investor’s willingness to pay (WTP) and are negatively correlated. Hedonic pricing quantifies the relationship between air pollutants and property values but is a backward-looking tool. Similarly, limited research links investment potential to urban planning and air pollution. This research aims to predict variation in investor WTP due to air pollution concentrations within a high-dense high-rise building cluster. Design/methodology/approach: Possible building configurations of Port City, Colombo, were modelled using Ansys Fluent. While maintaining the same Floor Area Ratio (FAR), building heights and volumes, the density of towers is changed by introducing wind corridors to enable pollutant dispersion. A trace pollutant is used as a comparative study to determine the effect of each building form on pollution concentration and potential WTP. Findings: The introduction of wind corridors along the ambient wind direction increased building porosity, positively affecting WTP overall. Wind corridors perpendicular to the ambient wind reduced porosity, which reduced dispersion at upper levels, negatively affecting WTP. Research limitations/implications: WTP is site-specific, and due to limited data for property values and volatility, the study was limited to a comparison study. Practical implications: Varying building configurations affect pollutant dispersion at different heights. The findings of the study can refine investments based on air quality and natural ventilation requirements. Originality/value: This paper fulfils a need to determine investment potential and air quality.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | air pollution; capital projects; environment; investment; sustainable design; sustainable development |
| Index terms: | air quality, comparative study, capital project, building height, density, investor, pollution, pricing, pollutant, high-rise building, environmental factor, urban planning, methodology, variation, natural ventilation, configuration, sustainable development, property value, air pollution, willingness to pay, sustainable design |
| Subjects: | research methods, health safety and environment, design process, building performance, construction type, climate science, urban planning, environmental science, economic analysis, strategic project management, analytical methods, contractual condition, sociology, price determination, systems engineering, environmental engineering, environmental health, research design and methodology, real estate economics |
| Topics: | Contract Administration, Urban Studies, Design Practice, Stakeholder Management, Governance, Construction Technology, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Sustainability, Procurement, Health and Safety, Engineering Principles, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCTA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here