Area usage of two outdoor public places with regard to the thermal conditions – observation-based human thermal comfort study in the centre of Szeged

摘要

The long-term observations of urban public parks and other green places provide useful information to estimate the impacts of the climatic and other factors on the area usage as well as on the thermal sensation of the people. This paper presents a thermal comfort investigation carried out in two squares located in the city centre of Szeged (Hungary). The survey which consisted of three study periods (three times 5 weeks in transient seasons) applied a complex methodology: the subjective approach included the investigation of the human attitude and the objective method was based on the measurement of the microclimatic parameters. The thermal conditions were quantified by one of the most popular human comfort index, Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET), calculated by the bioclimate model RayMan from measured meteorological parameters. The results confirm that actual thermal conditions have an effect on the attendance of the public places: the utilization of the squares increases with higher PET values, although exposure to the sun becomes lower with warmer conditions. The experienced tendencies draw attention to the importance of the detailed analyses of thermal comfort conditions in urban outdoor places.