A Study of the Pedestrianized Zone for Tourists: Urban Design Effects on Humans’ Thermal Comfort in Fo Shan City, Southern China

Abstract

Ling Nan Tian Di block is in Fo Shan city, which is in the hot-summer and warm-winter climate area of China and is a very important scenic spot. A pedestrianized zone aims to provide a commercial and recreational center for tourists. The utilization of it is determined by the outdoor microclimate, which affects not only humans’ thermal sensation but also the commercial value; thus, putting forward the best time of day to visit this region in extreme summer is very necessary. Using the result of this work, tourists can choose the most comfortable time of day with the most suitable thermal conditions to visit this pedestrianized zone. To this end, we conducted field measurements and numerical simulations to analyze thermal sensation. In addition, a field questionnaire survey was utilized to evaluate the thermal comfort range for tourists. The analyzed result shows that the thermal comfort range of tourists is a physiological equivalent temperature (PET) of 22 to 28 °C and the neutral PET is 25 °C. The final thermal calendar shows that the whole commercial zone is within the comfort range after 7:00 p.m. During the daytime, except for the open space without vegetation, the whole region is in the comfort range from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Performance of Different Urban Design Parameters in Improving Outdoor Thermal Comfort and Health in a Pedestrianized Zone

“…After that, we put forward some scientific hypotheses to understand the effect of different mentioned urban design parameters in cooling the thermal environment, this helps to the select the nest strategy to improve people's thermal comfort and health. that a lower SVF brings lower daytime temperatures in canyon space [9]. In addition, SVF also affects the level of the wind speed, and a study found that a 10% increase in SVF will lead to an 8% increase in wind speed [10].…”

“…The second factor is the sky view factor (SVF), which is expressed as "the ratio of the sky which can be seen from a stable position on a surface to that potentially available" [8], this index is a number ranging from 0 to 1. A previous study has shown that a lower SVF brings lower daytime 2 of 19 temperatures in canyon space [9]. In addition, SVF also affects the level of the wind speed, and a study found that a 10% increase in SVF will lead to an 8% increase in wind speed [10].…”

Tourists’ Thermal Experience and Health in a Commercial Pedestrianized Block: A Case Study in a Hot and Humid Region of Southern China

“…The simulated model of the selected site is shown in Figure 6. The classification of thermal perception and PET values of the hot summer and warm winter climate zone is shown in Table 4 [45,46]. The simulated model of the selected site is shown in Figure 6.…”

“…Table 4. The physiological equivalent temperature (PET) values and humans' thermal perceptions [45,46].…”

“…As mentioned above, the PET index was used in this study to evaluate tourists' thermal experiences in extreme summer. The thermal environment during the measured day is shown in Figure 8, which explains that the whole block reached "hot" and "very hot" levels from 10:00 to 19:00, meaning that nearly the entire day was unsuitable for tourist activities [45].…”