Journal
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIOMETEOROLOGY
Volume 57, Issue 4, Pages 615-630Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00484-012-0589-8
Keywords
Damascus; Microclimate; Thermal comfort; Thermal indices; Thermal sensation; Urban design
Funding
- Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window
- Lund University, Sweden
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Consideration of urban microclimate and thermal comfort is an absolute neccessity in urban development, and a set of guidelines for every type of climate must be elaborated. However, to develop guidelines, thermal comfort ranges need to be defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the behaviour of different thermal indices by investigating different thermal environments in Damascus during summer and winter. A second aim was to define the lower and upper limits of the thermal comfort range for some of these indices. The study was based on comprehensive micrometeorological measurements combined with questionnaires. It was found that the thermal conditions of different outdoor environments vary considerably. In general, Old Damascus, with its deep canyons, is more comfortable in summer than modern Damascus where there is a lack of shade. Conversely, residential areas and parks in modern Damascus are more comfortable in winter due to more solar access. The neutral temperatures of both the physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) and the outdoor standard effective temperature (OUT_SET*) were found to be lower in summer than in winter. At 80 % acceptability, the study defined the lower comfort limit in winter to 21.0 A degrees C and the upper limit in summer to 31.3 A degrees C for PET. For OUT_SET*, the corresponding lower and upper limits were 27.6 A degrees C and 31.3 A degrees C respectively. OUT_SET* showed a better correlation with the thermal sensation votes than PET. The study also highlighted the influence of culture and traditions on people's clothing as well as the influence of air conditioning on physical adaptation.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available