Green spaces influence on thermal comfort: structured studies in the city of Bragança

FCT-MCTES
Green Spaces are regarded as elements that can provide thermal comfort in cities. A research on green spaces contribution to thermal comfort was carried out, with the purpose of identifying essential principles that can help urban designers to enhance the social use of open spaces. These studies were developed in summer and early fall conditions, by means of structured experiments. These experiments took place in three occasions between June 2008 and September 2009, in a total of 432 thermal sensations questionnaires. The methodology consisted in placing different individuals, organized in uniform age groups and equal numbered in gender, under different thermal environments (shadow versus sun exposure, wind versus wind shield, grass versus artificial pavement) and asking them to express their thermal sensations (using a seven levels scale), while collecting meteorological data. A multinomial logistic regression was used to study the influence of both meteorological variables and personal attributes in thermal sensations. Significant results were found relating differences in thermal comfort with the radiation, air temperature and wind speed. Gender was also found to have a significant influence in human thermal sensations. Results show that differences in green spaces layout can significantly change the thermal environment, thus influencing thermal perceptions.

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