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Thermal comfort analysis and improvement of outdoor sports spaces in universities: a case study of Xi’an Jiaotong University

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Abstract

This article investigates the potential impact of thermal comfort on university teachers’ and students’ outdoor exercise via a case study of the thermal comfort of outdoor sports at the two campuses of Xi’an Jiaotong University—Xingqing Campus and Innovation Harbour Campus. Thermal comfort analysis is a crucial topic of urban environmental studies, but it has not yet been integrated with research on the improvement of outdoor sports spaces. This article is an attempt to fill this gap, using meteorological data gathered from a weather station and questionnaires gathered from the respondents. With collected data, the present research then uses linear regression to probe into the relationship between Mean Thermal Sensation Vote (MTSV), Mean Thermal Comfort Vote (MTCV), and MPET, to demonstrate general trends and display the PET values when TSV is most ideal. The results show that the significant differences in thermal comfort between the two campuses exert little impact on people’s will to exercise. Under the ideal thermal sensation, the calculated PET values for the Xingqing Campus and Innovation Harbour Campus were 25.55°C and 26.61°C respectively. The article ends with concrete suggestions on practical strategies to improve the thermal comfort of outdoor sports spaces.

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Acknowledgements

The authors of this paper sincerely appreciate Sifang Yang, Jiangying Liu, Wanting Zhao, Qianqian Deng, Jinhua Li, Fangjun Liu, and Xinxin Long for their effort in data collecting. We also want to express our heartfelt thanks to Heather Ho and Jiawei Li for their consistent and countless help.

Funding

This work was supported by the Key Scientific Research Projects of Colleges and Universities in Henan Province (Grant No. 22B560020), the National Key R&D Program of China (2020YFB1708900), the China National Natural Science Foundation (61872224), and Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (ZR2017MF003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Humanities and Social Science, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Chenlin Wei & Pengfei Xumo

  2. Faculty of Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, 999077, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Liyao Zhao

  3. School of Human Settlements and Civil Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Han Chang

Authors
  1. Chenlin Wei
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  2. Liyao Zhao
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  3. Han Chang
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  4. Pengfei Xumo
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Contributions

Chenlin Wei and Liyao Zhao conceived and completed this paper. Han Chang supervised the implementation of the research. Chenlin Wei, Liyao Zhao, and Han Chang proposed the concept of the research. Pengfei Xumo supported the writing.

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Correspondence to Han Chang.

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Wei, C., Zhao, L., Chang, H. et al. Thermal comfort analysis and improvement of outdoor sports spaces in universities: a case study of Xi’an Jiaotong University. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 76575–76594 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-27881-7

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