The Effects of Microclimate on the Behaviour of People in Urban Public Spaces: Insights from the Waterfront in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Human beings by nature are social beings. Therefore, the provision of public spaces for social activity is an integral part of urban design. It is known that public spaces have positive impacts on the health and well-being of people. However, the modern-day decline in the use of urban public spaces is due to comfortable thermal environments being created indoors through technologies and advanced design principles. In this context, this study examines the effect of microclimatic conditions on the behavior of people in outdoor urban public spaces, in order to identify design methods to create more conducive environments. This research employs a case study method: a plaza and waterfront in the city of Kandy as an urban public space. Data collection involved physical observations, activity mapping, a photographic survey, a thermal sensation questionnaire, 3D modelling, and simulations of the thermal environment. Data was subject to triangulation for establishing validity, to generate a better understanding and to show that tropical climate shade is not the only solution. Air temperature and solar radiation greatly affect the use of urban public spaces and people adapt to environmental conditions by experience. Wind, shade, vegetation cover, and surrounding urban geometry also contribute to thermal perception. It was inferred that there was no one primary factor but rather the culmination of all factors in different ratios that causes the environmental temperature to morph and change, affecting the thermal comfort of a space. This study provides a design-based recommendation in order to achieve an optimum level of thermal comfort and provide design efficacy for urban public spaces.