Field survey on outdoor human comfort in an urban climate

The outdoor human comfort in an urban climate may be affected by a wide range of weather and human factors. This paper describes a cooperative research program aiming at the establishment of comprehensive relationships between the comfort level of typical human activities and major weather parameters through questionnaire surveys, field measurements and statistical analyses. Results presented in this paper reveal for the first time the integrated effects of wind speed, air temperature, relative humidity and solar radiation on the human perception, preference and overall comfort. An attempt has also been made to develop an equivalent temperature for relevant climatic parameters and to relate it to the outdoor human comfort by considering acclimatization and other bio-meteorological principles.