Land Use and Thermal Comfort in the County of Ourinhos, SP

A. C. Carfan, E. Galvani, J. T. Nery

Universidade de S?o Paulo—FFLLCH/USP, S?o Paulo, Brazil.
Universidade Estadual Paulista—UNESP Ourinhos, S?o Paulo, Brazil.

DOI: 10.4236/cus.2014.22014                

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the thermal comfort in urban areas for different land uses. The ENVI- met microclimatic model has been used for urban boundary layer simulation, providing the following thermal comfort indexes: PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PPD (Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfaction). The chosen area covers the central area in the city of Ourinhos, located in southeastern Brazilian city, with subtropical climate. Four simulations were accomplished: an area with real buildings and vegetation on site, a “grassy” area where buildings have been replaced by grass in the central area, another grassy area, known as “grass/tree”, with additional trees in, and a final area called “Park” also grassy, where trees were added all over the area. The structures which showed thermal comfort within the ISO 7730 standards were the grassy area with no trees at 9 a.m., and a paved area, as well as the park area at 3 p.m. Other situations have presented values of PMV and PPD off the limits required by the rules; they were very close to those values. The only point that presented a far cry from the comfort required was the spot in the asphalt at 9 a.m. The other situations showed PMV and PPD values not far from the limits of comfort. Only the point on the asphalt showed values far from the limit of comfort at 9 a.m.

Keywords

Thermal Comfort, Urban Climate, Index

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Ahmed, K. S. (2003). Comfort in Urban Spaces: Defining the Boundaries of Outdoor Thermal Comfort for the Tropical Urban Environments. Energy and Buildings, 35, 103-110. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7788(02)00085-3
[2]	Bruse M. (2004). ENVI-Met Website. http://www.envi-met.com
[3]	Fanger, P. O. (1972). Thermal Comfort: Analysis and Applications in Environmental Engineering. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 244.
[4]	Gomes, M. A. S., & Amorim, M. C. C. T. (2003). Afforestation and Thermal Comfort in Urban Space: A Case Study in Public Squares of Presidente Prudente (SP). Paths of Geography, 7, 94-106.
[5]	Jendritzky, G. (1993). The Atmospheric Environment—An Introduction. Cellular and Molecular—Life Sciences (CMLS), 49, 733. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF01923541
[6]	Lahm, E., & Bruse, M. (2003). Microclimatic Effects of a Small Urban Park in Densely Built-Up Areas: Measurements and Model Simulations. In 5th International Conference on Urban Climate (pp. 273-276), Lodz.
[7]	Thom, E. C. (1959). The Discomfort Index. Weatherwise, 2, 57-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00431672.1959.9926960 CIIAGRO (2010). http://www.ciiagro.sp.gov.br