Dependence of Visitors’ Thermal Sensations on Built Environments at an Urban Square

Abstract

The built environment affects thermal conditions in an urban space, thereby affecting the visitors’ thermal comfort. The objective of the study is to determine the effects of landscape attributes on microclimatic conditions and public thermal perceptions at an urban square in temperate and dry region. Simultaneous measurement and questionnaire surveys were conducted in winter and summer in Isfahan, Iran. Thermal stress was found to be higher in summer than in winter. Evaporative cooling by water and providing more air velocities were two useful ameliorating strategies. The visitors were most sensitive to changes of air temperature (Ta) rather than other parameters.Keywords: Thermal comfort; built environment; urban square; microclimates eISSN 2398-4295 © 2018. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia.