Influence of Thermal Environment on Attendance and Adaptive Behaviors in Outdoor Spaces: A Study in a Cold-Climate University Campus

Abstract

Creating a favorable thermal environment in an outdoor space is essential for attracting more occupants to outdoor areas and vitalizing a city. It is possible to study occupants’ needs in an outdoor thermal environment by observing their attendance and behaviors, since people may exhibit certain adaptive measures, such as seeking shade, using parasols, etc., “vote with their feet”, or even leave the space, if they feel uncomfortable. In order to investigate the influence of thermal environment on attendance and adaptive behaviors in outdoor spaces, in this study we carried out field campaigns in a university campus in a cold-climate city. The thermal environment was monitored, while surveys of thermal perceptions and observations of attendance and adaptive behaviors were conducted. Through the data analyses, it was found that the thermal environment had a great impact on the attendance of optional activities, but necessary activities were not influenced. The greatest influence on attendance came from air temperature. The influences of wind and humidity on attendance were found to be coupled with that of air temperature. Adaptive behaviors, such as seeking shade, using parasols, changing clothes, and changing the lengths of stay, were also greatly influenced by air temperature.

Mathematical Problems in Engineering Decision-Making Based on Improved Entropy Weighting Method: An Example of Passenger Comfort in a Smart Cockpit of a Car

“…As the place where people interact directly with the car, the study of the comfort level of the intelligent cockpit is very important. Some scholars have found that acoustic environment, optical environment, thermal environment, human-computer interaction, and cabin air quality all have an impact on passenger comfort [22][23][24][25][26][27]. erefore, in this paper, when using the entropy weight method to study the passenger comfort model of the automotive intelligent cockpit, the acoustic environment, optical environment, thermal environment, human-computer interaction, and cockpit air quality are used as the firstlevel indicators, and in order to more comprehensively evaluate the comfort of intelligent cabin passengers, a comprehensive comfort evaluation hierarchy model of the intelligent cockpit of the car was established, as shown in Figure 1.…”

A comprehensive evaluation model for the intelligent automobile cockpit comfort

“…Passenger comfort as a subjective perception is a complex term that includes factors such as thermal environment comfort and acoustic environment comfort 11 – 13 . Among them, the thermal environment has an impact on the efficiency and comfort of personal travel 14 . The acoustic environment has an impact on people performing complex behaviors; noise can cause stress and interfere with attention, and the acoustic environment also affects passengers' cognitive performance 15 .…”