Human thermal comfort in urban outdoor spaces

Abstract

Measurements of the physical environment of urban open spaces in Syracuse, New York, were used to compute the physiological responses of human users of the spaces. These calculations were then used to determine what environmental variables were both important to human comfort and susceptible to control by site design. Although air temperature and humidity are important to human thermal comfort, these variables were found not to be related in any way to site features; temperature and humidity in the central business district were uniform over space. The other variables found to be important to human thermal comfort are, in order of importance: solar radiation, infrared radiation, and wind speed. We found that all of these can be controlled to some extent by site design. Thus site design can be used to control human thermal comfort in outdoor urban spaces.

Parent Publication

• Proceedings of the conference on metropolitan physical environment

Citation

Herrington, Lee P.; Vittum, J. S. 1977. Human thermal comfort in urban outdoor spaces. In: Heisler, Gordon M.; Herrington, Lee P., eds. Proceedings of the conference on metropolitan physical environment; Gen. Tech. Rep. NE-25. Upper Darby, PA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. 130-138