Microclimatic thermal comfort analysis in cities for urban planning and open space design

Urban planners and architects need detailed information about the thermal conditions ofopen spaces for their design. For the use of open spaces it is essential, that they have adetailed knowledge of urban climate effects, thermal sensations as the actual use of openspaces is very much dependent from that. The possibilities for adequate activities withinthe city structure also depend from thermal conditions. Meteorological measurementswere carried out in an urban city structure of the city Kassel to evaluate urban climate inrespect thermal comfort to and compare these results with the behaviour of people.Fundamental knowledge for thermal sensations came out of a European investigationproject, which was carried out in 6 countries. As thermal index the physiologicalequivalent temperature (PET) was used. For the thermal comfort analysis withmeasurements a simplified methodology was developed for the thermal comfortconditions and the presentation in urban climate maps. In a well defined city fabricmeasurements were carried out to compare different sensors and transferred to the meanradiation temperature.