A localized adaptive comfort model for free-running low-income housing in Mumbai, India

Abstract

The nexus of thermal comfort, affordability, and resilient buildings is receiving great attention in the rapidly urbanizing world. Understanding the thermal comfort needs, and preferences of the low-income population are crucial in developing an equitable approach to fight climate change and meet sustainable development goals. However, thermal comfort is a contextual construct that requires a localized rather than a universal one-size-fits-all approach. This study proposes a novel AdaptiveComfort forLow-Income Housing (ACL) model for the free-running low-income housing of Mumbai, India through a longitudinal field study method. 6266 observations from low-income housing located within the warm humid region were gathered to examine the thermal comfort conditions of the vulnerable population. Lower thermal sensitivity and a wider comfort temperature band of 25.1 °C to 31.9 °C for occupants were observed as compared to their affluent counterparts. The existing national and international comfort standards proved to be ineffective in predicting comfort conditions for Indian low-income occupants. The localized ACL model developed here is a first-of-its-kind attempt in the Indian context toward improving thermal comfort and built environment sustainability in low-income housing.