Enhancing the use of solar energy is considered an effective measure to reduce carbon emissions in the building sector and to enhance the sustainability of regional buildings in high-density urban areas. Urban block morphology has an important impact on solar energy potential. In this paper, typical block morphology of industrial, residential, educational, office and commercial areas are extracted in Nanjing city as an example. Subsequently, the solar radiation simulation of the block morphology is carried out based on the Ladybug plug-in of the parameter platform Grasshopper. The solar energy potential of different blocks is compared and analyzed. In addition, the morphological parameters of each block were recorded for correlation analysis with solar potential. The conclusions show that the single-story factory block has the highest solar potential, followed by the high-density multi-story residential blocks. High-rise residential blocks, high-density commercial and office blocks have lower solar potential. In addition, it was found that building density and street canyon aspect ratio are key morphological parameters that influence the solar potential of block morphology, as the larger the roof area and the less shading between buildings, the larger the area of solar energy utilization in blocks. These findings will provide further insights into solar energy driven urban design and energy-efficient retrofitting of buildings in urban areas.

solar energy potential,block morphology,functional areas,grasshopper,urban design