Climate-Responsive Green-Space Design Inspired by Traditional Gardens: Microclimate and Human Thermal Comfort of Japanese Gardens

Lihua Cui,Shozo Shibata,Christoph D D Rupprecht

doi:10.3390/su13052736

Lihua Cui, Shozo Shibata + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su13052736

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Abstract

Urban green spaces can provide relaxation, exercise, social interaction, and many other benefits for their communities, towns, and cities. However, green spaces in hot and humid regions risk being underutilized by residents unless thermal environments are designed to be sufficiently comfortable. Understanding what conditions are needed for comfortable outdoor spaces, particularly how people feel in regard to their thermal environment, is vital in designing spaces for public use. Traditional gardens are excellent examples of successful microclimate design from which we can learn, as they are developed over the generations through observation and modification. This study analyzed how Japanese gardens affect people’s thermal stress on extremely hot summer days. Meteorological data was collected in three Japanese gardens, and human thermal comfort was evaluated through physiological equivalent temperature (PET). Statistical analysis examined the relationship between spatial configurations of the gardens and thermal comfort. Our study revealed that Japanese gardens can efficiently ameliorate thermal stress. Spatial analysis showed that garden elements affect thermal comfort variously depending on time of the day and spatial distribution.

Highlights

Spronken-Smith and Oke [26] reported that Ta difference between urban greens in Sacramento and surrounding areas could reach up to 7 ◦ C if the green spaces are well irrigated
We aimed to provide useful guidance on climateresponsive green-space design by studying strategies from traditional gardens
Investigations of microclimates carried out on hot summer days in Japanese pond gardens demonstrated that the pond gardens modified “very hot” local thermal conditions to

Summary

Introduction

In our globally urbanizing world, green space for outdoor activities is declining and with it time people spend in it [3,4,5,6]. Apart from the health concerns, an “extinction of experience” has been identified to occur worldwide, and studies demonstrated that people who spend less time in nature have less knowledge of or interest in nature [7,8,9]. This is obvious among children, who today spend less time outdoors than previous generations. Soga and colleagues [10] warn that more people will turn biophobic if the current trend continues, which is likely to affect future nature and environmental conservation [11]

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