Patterns and associations of summer thermal comfort and students’ physical activity in campus green spaces

Campus green spaces (CGSs), as integral components of campus life, serve as primary venues for student activities and learning. However, with the increasing frequency of urban extreme heat events, creating thermally comfortable spaces for physical activities (PA) through campus green space design has become a crucial issue. Taking the West Campus of Yangtze University in China as a case study, we analyzed thermal comfort and physical activities across 10 locations representing three types of campus green spaces (plaza-type, rest-type, and leisure-type) through field measurements, 982 questionnaire surveys and 3864 recorded activity events during summer. Our findings reveal that: (1) thermal comfort and physical activities showed an inversely related, phase-dependent pattern across space typologies, with the association generally attenuated in the high-temperature period (11:30 AM–15:30 PM) and significantly amplified in the cooling period (15:30–19:30 PM); (2) different types of campus green spaces revealed divergent thermal and usage characteristics, with plaza-type green spaces being heat-vulnerable during the high-temperature period and showing the lowest usage levels, rest-type green spaces consistently providing more favorable thermal conditions yet only medium utilization, and leisure-type green spaces sustaining the highest overall usage rates but with suppression of activity intensity during heat events; (3) low-intensity activities (e.g., walking or board games) showed the greatest thermal sensitivity, particularly in plaza-type green spaces, where each 1 °C temperature increase corresponded to a decrease of 0.80 persons in activity participation (p < 0.001). This study provides scientific evidence for optimizing campus green space design and enhancing the suitability of outdoor activities under thermal stress conditions.