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Predicting urban outdoor thermal comfort by the Universal Thermal Climate Index UTCI—a case study in Southern Brazil

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Abstract

Recognising that modifications to the physical attributes of urban space are able to promote improved thermal outdoor conditions and thus positively influence the use of open spaces, a survey to define optimal thermal comfort ranges for passers-by in pedestrian streets was conducted in Curitiba, Brazil. We applied general additive models to study the impact of temperature, humidity, and wind, as well as long-wave and short-wave radiant heat fluxes as summarised by the recently developed Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) on the choice of clothing insulation by fitting LOESS smoothers to observations from 944 males and 710 females aged from 13 to 91 years. We further analysed votes of thermal sensation compared to predictions of UTCI. The results showed that females chose less insulating clothing in warm conditions compared to males and that observed values of clothing insulation depended on temperature, but also on season and potentially on solar radiation. The overall pattern of clothing choice was well reflected by UTCI, which also provided for good predictions of thermal sensation votes depending on the meteorological conditions. Analysing subgroups indicated that the goodness-of-fit of the UTCI was independent of gender and age, and with only limited influence of season and body composition as assessed by body mass index. This suggests that UTCI can serve as a suitable planning tool for urban thermal comfort in sub-tropical regions.

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Acknowledgements

The development of UTCI was funded as COST Action 730 “Towards a Universal Thermal Climate Index UTCI for Assessing the Thermal Environment of the Human Being”. COST is supported by the EU RTD Framework Programme. The Brazilian funding agencies CNPq and CAPES are gratefully acknowledged for supporting the field monitoring by equipment and scholarships.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Research Centre for Working Environment and Human Factors (IfADo), Ardeystr. 67, 44139, Dortmund, Germany

    Peter Bröde

  2. Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil

    Eduardo L. Krüger & Francine A. Rossi

  3. Ergonsim—Comfort Energy Efficiency, Stuttgart, Germany

    Dusan Fiala

  4. Institute of Building Technologies, IBBTE, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany

    Dusan Fiala

Authors
  1. Peter Bröde
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  2. Eduardo L. Krüger
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  3. Francine A. Rossi
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  4. Dusan Fiala
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Correspondence to Peter Bröde.

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Bröde, P., Krüger, E.L., Rossi, F.A. et al. Predicting urban outdoor thermal comfort by the Universal Thermal Climate Index UTCI—a case study in Southern Brazil. Int J Biometeorol 56, 471–480 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-011-0452-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00484-011-0452-3

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