Thermal comfort conditions of shaded outdoor spaces in hot and humid climate of Malaysia

In recent years, the accelerated rate of urban growth in tropical cities highlights the critical necessity of creating more outdoor spaces for leisure and recreation activities of citizens. Nevertheless, the thermal conditions and the thermal sensation of users have not been fully explored in outdoor environments of hot and humid climate. This fact elucidates the need for considering human thermal comfort in outdoor spaces with such climates. Consequently, in this research, a quantitative field study was applied to investigate outdoor thermal comfort conditions in hot and humid tropical climate of Malaysia. Thermal conditions of outdoor spaces were evaluated based upon the measurement of major climatic parameters, while the thermal perception of subjects was captured simultaneously using a questionnaire survey. The study concentrated on the shaded outdoor spaces within the campus of Universiti Putra Malaysia whereas the focus was on the students of university including local and international individuals as the respondents of inquiry. Meanwhile, the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) thermal comfort index was utilized to assess the thermal comfort conditions of selected areas. Results from this study indicated besides the substantial role of environmental factors, thermal adaptation and psychological parameters strongly affect human thermal comfort level in outdoor spaces. Moreover, this study represents that there is a significant difference between the responses of the local and the international subjects regarding the climatic conditions. The final outcome of the study contributes toward creating comfortable outdoor spaces in hot and humid contexts to enhance the quality of outdoor life in cities. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.