Abstract
Outdoor thermal comfort is an essential factor of people’s everyday life and deeply affects the habitability of outdoor spaces. However the indices used for its evaluation were usually developed for indoor environments assuming still air conditions and absence of solar radiation and were only later adapted to outdoor spaces. For this reason, in a previous study the Mediterranean Outdoor Comfort Index (MOCI) was developed, which is an empirical index able to estimate the thermal perception of people living in the Mediterranean area. In this study it was compared numerically (by using the data obtained through a field survey) with other selected thermal indices. This comparison, performed in terms of Spearman’s rho correlation coefficient, association Gamma, percentage of correct predictions and cross-tabulation analysis, led to identify the MOCI as the most suitable index to examine outdoor thermal comfort in the interested area. As a matter of fact it showed a total percentage of correct predictions of 35.5%. Good performances were reported even in thermophysiological indices as the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). Moreover it was revealed that adaptation and acclimatization phenomena tend to have a certain influence as well.
Highlights
More than half of the world population lives in cities [1] and this has brought researchers, engineers, architects, urban planners to focus their attention on the urban microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort
From this point of view, the Mediterranean Outdoor Comfort Index (MOCI) seems to be the best index in terms of performances, being able to determine accurately 35.5% of the votes given by the interviewees
The time interval was from June 2015 to November 2015, covering summer and the transitional season of autumn
Summary
More than half of the world population lives in cities [1] and this has brought researchers, engineers, architects, urban planners to focus their attention on the urban microclimate and outdoor thermal comfort. A city planned properly with an accurate selection of the materials used for outdoor spaces [2,3,4] can improve thermal living conditions, with a decrease in the potential thermal stress and a reduction of the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. Even if some studies focused their attention on natural ventilation in indoor environments [5,6,7], it should be underlined how an accurate planning of outdoor spaces is one of the most effective measures to reduce the energy consumption. The energy demand decreases thanks to an accurate selection of the materials [10,11]: as a matter of fact planning outdoor spaces by using “cool” materials on surfaces with a high sky view factor determines a decrease in the mean radiant temperature, air temperature and heat flux transferred to indoor spaces
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