Outdoor Thermal Comfort of Urban’s Pedestrian in Tropical City of Kuala Lumpur

Abstract

In recent years, urbanization in the city have given impact to the climate change of the environment. The increase in urban air temperature have decrease the thermal comfort or ruin the experience of the pedestrian in outdoor spaces. This research explores the impact of air temperature on pedestrian outdoor thermal comfort in shaded spaces of tropical city of Kuala Lumpur. Findings are presented from field measurement based on the environmental parameters on case study area. Surveys are conducted which includes 199 randomly selected pedestrians to subjectively observe their feeling and preferences of the outdoor thermal comfort towards the climatic outdoor temperature. Hence, the result concluded that the urban pedestrian walkway has a significantly high temperature. However, the results show that presence of shading structure improve their comfort being in outdoor spaces. This conclude that thermal sensation of pedestrian can be improved with shading structure and it can increase the walkability of pedestrians. The space can also increase the pedestrian’s comfort with help of mechanical ventilation. Thus, it is recommended for outdoor pedestrian spaces to provide shading and have proper ventilation to reduce heat and make pedestrian feels comfortable outdoor.