Investigation on adaptive thermal comfort considering the thermal history of local and migrant peoples living in sub-tropical climate of Nepal

Abstract

Preference of thermal environment could vary with different groups of people depending on their respective local climatic characteristics that etch their thermal histories on their own. It can be an important factor to consider when a thermally acceptable built environment is created for people who migrate from a different climatic region to another. We investigated two groups of people, local and migrant, living in sub-tropical region of Nepal to clarify whether such thermal history exists and if it does, then it is important to clarify how it is associated with their thermal adaptability. A series of thermal comfort surveys were conducted for a one-month period in 2019. We collected votes of thermal perception from 395 individuals living in 122 houses. The upper limit of thermal acceptability for local people was 3 °C higher than that of migrant people. Preferred temperatures of local and migrant peoples were different under the condition of indoor globe temperature lower than 31 °C. Furthermore, perceived sweating level of migrant people was 66% and that of the local people was 26%. This implies that migrant people tend to perceive more sweating than local people. The results of the present investigation indicate that there is an evident difference in thermal acceptability between local and migrant peoples. Thermal history of the local and migrant peoples is considered very likely to affect their thermal comfort levels indoors. Consequently, it is important to consider the diversity of thermal acceptability when creating an appropriate built environment.