In urban areas, the climatic loads on buildings in summer conditions are largely affected by solar radiation. In this paper a modified simplified method for radiant interchange determination is used in a solar energy study. The good agreement with the radiosity method allows one to use this simplified method in the street canyon case. In a building pilot study, parametric analysis and building thermal behaviour can be assessed by simplified models which are useful for long-period simulation. Then this radiant interchange model is introduced in a zonal model of a canyon street and performed with a variable climatic conditions show case. The solar radiation is the only driving force in the street air movement. The interest of such approach for complex coupled phenomena studies is highlighted by obtained results and the assessment of variable climatic loads for different building zones can be considered with the model detailed herein. Future developments are planned in order to improve simulation accuracy by the addition of other local phenomena. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.