A comprehensive review of thermal comfort studies in urban open spaces

Dayi Lai; Zhiwei Lian; Weiwei Liu; Chaoran Guo; Wei Liu; Kuixing Liu; Qingyan Chen

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140092

A comprehensive review of thermal comfort studies in urban open spaces

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Nov 10:742:140092. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140092. Epub 2020 Jun 15.

Authors

Dayi Lai¹, Zhiwei Lian¹, Weiwei Liu², Chaoran Guo³, Wei Liu⁴, Kuixing Liu⁵, Qingyan Chen⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Architecture, School of Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
² School of Energy Science & Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410012, China.
³ School of Architecture, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
⁴ Division of Sustainable Buildings, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Brinellvägen 23, Stockholm 100 44, Sweden.
⁵ School of Architecture, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China. Electronic address: liukuixing@tju.edu.cn.
⁶ School of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.

PMID: 32640397
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140092

Abstract

Urban open spaces provide various benefits to large populations in cities. Since thermally comfortable urban open spaces improve the quality of urban living, an increasing number of studies have been conducted to extend the existing knowledge of outdoor thermal comfort. This paper comprehensively reviews current outdoor thermal comfort studies, including benchmarks, data collection methods, and models of outdoor thermal comfort. Because outdoor thermal comfort is a complex issue influenced by various factors, a conceptual framework is proposed which includes physical, physiological and psychological factors as direct influences; and behavioral, personal, social, cultural factors, as well as thermal history, site, and alliesthesia, as indirect influences. These direct and indirect factors are further decomposed and reviewed, and the interactions among various factors are discussed. This review provides researchers with a systematic and comprehensive understanding of outdoor thermal comfort, and can also guide designers and planners in creating thermally comfortable urban open spaces.

Keywords: Adaptation; Human behavior; Outdoor thermal comfort; Urban heat island; Urban open space; Urban planning.

Publication types

Review