The theory of probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs) is very useful in objectively dealing with the multi‐criteria group decision making (MCGDM) problems in which there is hesitancy in providing linguistic assessments; and PLTSs allow experts to express their preferences on one linguistic term over another. In order to reflect the uncertainty and inconsistency of decision‐makers and handle incomplete linguistic information, we propose a new PLTS called interval‐valued probabilistic linguistic term set (IVPLTS). In addition, the existing approaches associated with PLTSs are limited or highly complex in real applications. Therefore, new operations, comparison laws, and aggregation operators are developed for IVPLTS. Furthermore, we establish an efficient framework for MCGDM problems based on the proposed comparison method and the fuzzy preference relation. Then we apply it to a real‐life case under linguistic environment. The extended TOPSIS methods combined with PLTSs by using different operational laws are also included for comparison. The final results demonstrate the efficiency and practicality of the new framework.

Urban greening helps cooling and humidifying the air; shading provided by buildings also affects outdoor thermal environment. Therefore, they both influence the thermal perceptions of people in outdoor spaces. The sky view factor (SVF) is a commonly used parameter in the research on urban climate, indicates the relationship between the visible area of the sky and the area covered by urban structures. The current paper first gives a brief introduction of the SVF and fisheye imagery. It then describes a method conducted to estimate SVF for urban environment analysis by using fisheye lenses and applying the ENVI platform as well. Finally, micro-climate characteristics over three typical urban underlying surfaces, including sunlit asphalt roads, shaded roads by building and by chinars were analyzed based on on-site observations. For a high-density city such as Nanjing, the present study reveals that the higher building shaded, chinar canopy density, and the lower sky transmittance, humidification and cooling of the air is more significant under the same climate condition and the same road. For benefiting urban environmental planning and assessment in high-density cities, more cases simulation with different combinations of factors are needed, which can provide a set of better greening guides and the optimal shading level.