Exploring the perceived dimensions of open spaces' elements influencing outdoor thermal comfort in the Indonesian context

Abstract

Several studies have investigated the elements determining the thermal comfort of open spaces through the use of physical and physiological approaches. The findings showed that psychological adaptation plays an equally important role as physical and physiological adaptation in outdoor thermal comfort. Therefore, this study was conducted to explore the elements of open spaces which perceptually influence thermal comfort in the Indonesian context through the use of a mixed qualitative-quantitative approach. The qualitative was used in the first phase through the development of a web-based questionnaire with open-ended questions and content analysis which was used to produce 24 variables. These were further applied in the second phase to develop the second questionnaire which contains closed-ended questions after which the data obtained were analyzed using factor analysis to determine the perceived dimensions of open spaces' elements. The results showed 10 perceived dimensions of open spaces' elements influencing outdoor thermal comfort. Moreover, the multiple regression analysis indicated only "shading", "visual and auditory aspects", and "natural elements and friends' company" had a significant effect but the last two dimensions cannot be tested using physical and physiological approaches. These findings are expected to enrich place-making guidelines required to assist urban designers and administrators in developing more comfortable and livable open spaces for residents. 1.