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. 2022 Oct 11:10:1024757.
doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.1024757. eCollection 2022.

Spatial differences in thermal comfort in summer in coastal areas: A study on Dalian, China

Hongchi Zhang  1 , Fei Guo  1 , Kaitong Liu  1 , Jie Wang  1 , Jing Dong  1 , Peisheng Zhu  1
Affiliations

Spatial differences in thermal comfort in summer in coastal areas: A study on Dalian, China

Hongchi Zhang et al. Front Public Health. .

Abstract

Thermal comfort is an important indicator for evaluating the environment of urban public space, and appropriate thermal comfort can effectively prolong the duration of outdoor activities. In the existing studies, there is a lack of thermal comfort comparison between hot spots and cold spots. In this study, we selected the coastal city of Dalian in China as our study area and conducted field investigations on the thermal comfort of two landmark resorts, namely, a downtown commercial street and coastal leisure park. The study was conducted on typical summer days and consisted of interviewing several residents to understand their thermal comfort requirements. We investigated the thermal expectations of the interviewees through meteorological measurements and questionnaires. The universal thermal climate index (UTCI) was used to determine the thermal benchmarks of the on-site subjects. The results indicated that (1) globe temperature and air temperature were the most important factors that affected thermal comfort, followed by relative humidity and wind speed in summer daytime. (2) Shaded spaces are more comfortable than open spaces, and tree shade is preferred over artificial shade in coastal park. (3) The neutral UTCI (NUTCI) of the respondents were 24.1°C (coastal park) and 26.0°C (commercial street); the neutral UTCI ranges (NUTCIR) were 20.8-27.4°C (coastal park) and 23.3-28.7°C (commercial street). (4) The upper thermal acceptable range limits of the coastal park and commercial street were 30.2 and 32.1°C, respectively, which were substantially higher than the upper NUTCIR limit, indicating that the residents in Dalian were well-adapted to hot weather. The results can provide a good reference for determining ideal design strategies to optimize the thermal environment of urban outdoor recreation spaces in summers and improve the quality of life in coastal cities.

Keywords: coastal city; coastal park; commercial street; outdoor thermal comfort; universal thermal climate index.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Monthly mean, maximum, and minimum air temperature (Ta) and mean relative humidity (RH) in Dalian, China, from 2011 to 2021 (56).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Study areas considered in this study and the six measurement points for the Xinghai Park and Xi'an Road (CP1–CP6 and CS1–CS6, respectively).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Results of post-hoc Tukey's test for different pairs of measurement points for the meteorological variables considered in this study.
Figure 4
Figure 4
TSV in open spaces during summer: (A) Both study areas, (B) coastal park, and (C) commercial street.
Figure 5
Figure 5
TCV in open spaces during summer: (A) Both study areas, (B) coastal park, and (C) commercial street.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Correlation between TSV and TCV for coastal park and commercial street.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Neutral temperatures calculated using a linear regression: (A) Coastal park and (B) commercial street.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Relationship between the thermal unacceptable rate and UTCI for the coastal park and commercial street.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Comparison of preferred thermal adaptation behaviors for both the study areas.
Figure 10
Figure 10
UTCI calendar for the 12 measuring sites considered in this study: (A) Coastal park and (B) commercial street.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Relationship between NUTCIR and TAR.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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