Microclimate

A Microclimate is a local atmospheric zone where the climate differs from the surrounding area. The term may refer to areas as small as a few square feet (for example a garden bed) or as large as many square miles. Microclimates exist, for example, near bodies of water which may cool the local atmosphere, or in heavily urban areas where brick, concrete, and asphalt absorb the sun's energy, heat up, and reradiate that heat to the ambient air: the resulting urban heat island is a kind of microclimate. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microclimate)

Although microclimate is a word only invented in last century, its application to the design of architecture have been long existed. The old Chinese ideology, fengshui, has seen building's influence for the surrounding area and gives some principles on how to build to adapt the microclimate.