Urban heat island and indoor comfort effects in social housing dwellings

•UHI results for Curitiba shows maximum intensity in summer.•Predicted indoor thermal performance suggests prevalence of heat stress.•Dwellings with higher resilience factor exhibit high U-value and low time-lag.

Linkages between urban growth and the formation of urban heat islands (UHI) have been proposed by diverse authors and for various climatic regions. In Curitiba (25.5° S), located within a region of subtropical climate in elevation, population has risen from approximately 600,000 inhabitants to 1.5 million within three decades. In this paper, an analysis of the urban heat island is performed by means of a long-term climate monitoring between December 2011 and February 2013 using a pair of weather stations in and outside the urban area. Resulting effects of the local UHI on thermal comfort conditions in low-cost houses are shown in terms of predicted percentages in cold and heat strain in and outside the urban area.