This paper describes the application of a methodology designed to analyse the relationship between climatic conditions and the perception of bioclimatic comfort. The experiment consisted of conducting simultaneous questionnaire surveys and weather measurements during 2 sunny spring days in an open urban area in Lisbon. The results showed that under outdoor conditions, thermal comfort can be maintained with temperatures well above the standard values defined for indoor conditions. There seems to be a spontaneous adaptation in terms of clothing whenever the physiological equivalent temperature threshold of 31 degrees C is surpassed. The perception of air temperature is difficult to separate from the perception of the thermal environment and is modified by other parameters, particularly wind. The perception of solar radiation is related to the intensity of fluxes from various directions (i.e. falling upon both vertical and horizontal surfaces), weighted by the coefficients of incidence upon the human body. Wind was found to be the most intensely perceived variable, usually negatively. Wind perception depends largely on the extreme values of wind speed and wind variability. Women showed a stronger negative reaction to high wind speed than men. The experiment proved that this methodology is well-suited to achieving the proposed objectives and that it may be applied in other areas and in other seasons.
We aim to understand the relationship between people's declared bioclimatic comfort, their personal characteristics (age, origin, clothing, activity and motivation, etc.) and the atmospheric conditions. To attain this goal, questionnaire surveys were made concurrently with weather measurements (air temperature, relative humidity, solar and long-wave radiation and wind speed) in two open leisure areas of Lisbon (Portugal), during the years 2006 and 2007. We analysed the desire expressed by the interviewees to decrease, maintain or increase the values of air temperature and wind speed, in order to improve their level of comfort. Multiple logistic regression was used to analyse the quantitative relation between preference votes and environmental and personal parameters. The preference for a different temperature depends on the season and is strongly associated with wind speed. Furthermore, a general decrease of discomfort with increasing age was also found. Most people declared a preference for lower wind speed in all seasons; the perception of wind shows significant differences depending on gender, with women declaring a lower level of comfort with higher wind speed. It was also found that the tolerance of warmer conditions is higher than of cooler conditions, and that adaptive strategies are undertaken by people to improve their level of comfort outdoors.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.