Relationship of Age, Gender, and Body Proportion to Outdoor Thermal Comfort in Open Space, Case Study: Green Park, Kitakyushu, Japan

Abstract

Outdoor thermal comfort is influenced by many factors, including environmental factors and human factors. A person’s age and gender are thought to influence the survey answers. The older a person is, the lower the standard of comfort will be, and vice versa. Meanwhile, men are easier to gain thermal comfort than women. In addition, the proportion of a person’s body weight and height calculated by Body Mass Index (BMI) is also thought to affect the level of thermal comfort. The greater the distance from the proportional body, the higher the standard of comfort. These hypotheses will be scientifically proven through this research. This research was conducted for one year by quantitative methods using a printed questionnaire media. The total number of respondents was 415 people, with details of 97 people in the summer (2020), 86 people in the fall (2020), 117 people in the winter (2021), and 115 people in the spring (2021). The sampling method used a simple random sampling approach, and the questionnaire was directly distributed in Green Park, one of the urban parks in Kitakyushu, Japan. The relationship between the three variables would be analysed by the multivariate analysis method. Based on the analysis results, there is no significant correlation of age, gender, and body proportion to outdoor thermal comfort.