Climate walking and linear mixed model statistics for the seasonal outdoor thermophysiological comfort assessment in Lisbon

• Published in: Urban climate 2024-05, Vol.55, p.101933, Article 101933
• Main Authors: Silva, Tiago, Reis, Cláudia, Braz, Diogo, Vasconcelos, João, Lopes, António
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Local climate zones; Roving missions; Universal thermal climate index; Urban climate
• ISSN: 2212-0955; 2212-0955
• DOI: 10.1016/j.uclim.2024.101933

To measure urban outdoor pedestrian thermophysiological comfort mobile roving missions were conducted in all seasons of the year during the day and at night. Six routes were chosen, representing areas of the city with varying urban morphological layouts. The thermal comfort conditions were analysed using the Local Climate Zone spatial scale. This enabled the identification of typologies of areas where pedestrians might feel (un)comfortable. To achieve the proposed objectives, quantitative and qualitative analysis were run, namely a Linear Mixed-Effect Model. This model was useful to understand the thermal behaviour of the roved areas by comparison to a reference area. The city was found to be generally cooler, except at night when it can have a 44% increased UTCI. Most collected values throughout the year had ‘no thermal stress’, except in the summer when ‘moderate’ and ‘strong heat stress’ was predominant. Compact and large low rise urban areas were found to be the most uncomfortable. Significant amplitudes were found in some LCZs, reaching as high as 7 °C in some scenarios. Sparsely wooded areas exhibited higher values in all seasons and at night, except in the summer. This showed that for a local heat stress analysis a higher resolution scale is needed. •Roving missions were run during a year to assess the pedestrian's thermal comfort.•Quantitative and qualitative tests permitted to study each typology of urban area.•Roved days in the summer had either moderate or strong heat stress conditions.•Compact and large low rise urban areas were found to be the most uncomfortable.•During the day streets were cooler than the airport area, and it flipped at night.