The effect of physical and psychological environments on the users thermal perceptions of educational urban precincts

Assessment of outdoor thermal comfort requirements is of primary importance in the development of sustainable outdoor environments, including urban precincts. The full understanding of thermally comfortable outdoor conditions requires investigating other factors that are beyond the thermophysiological aspect of thermal comfort, including those contextual factors that are contextually impacting people's thermal judgment. Using a socio-ecological system model (SESM) as the research framework, this study aimed to investigate the role of physical environmental factors (i.e. weather conditions, including solar radiation intensity and design descriptors, such as sky view factor and aspect ratio, length of residence, and time of exposure) and psychological environmental factors (i.e. users' overall comfort and thermal preference, purpose and frequency of visit, seasonal change, thermal history, consideration of weather forecasts, character and features of place, and naturalness). The data used in this study were collected during three rounds of field surveys consisting of on-site measurements and questionnaire surveys. The field surveys were conducted in three case study sites, which are on the premises of an educational precinct in Melbourne, Australia, from November 2014 to May 2015. The analytical results demonstrated a medium and low influence of physical and psychological factors on outdoor thermal sensations, respectively. The research outcome has shed light on those aspects of thermal comfort that are yet to be fully understood in outdoor spaces.