Calculation of areas of permanence in public spaces, according to solar radiation simulated conditions

Abstract

Permanence of people in public spaces is conditioned to several environmental factors, such as solar insolation. This specific factor is of particular interest in tropical countries, since it determines the comfort levels of people staying in public places for a length of time. This paper contains the analysis of people's Areas of Permanence in public spaces, taking into account solar radiation. The solar radiation data was obtained through simulations developed with a LISP routine named Torres 15.0 [1] executed in AutoCAD, which registers the number of hours that each point is affected by direct solar radiation. Resulting solar data were transformed to dataofAreas of Permanence by creating Tolerance Ranges to sun exposure. The ranges were divided into five types of areas: Long and Short Permanence, Pause, Slow and Fast Traffic. These areas correspond to the time that people are willing to tolerate sun in different activities. The objective of this analysis is to collect data of environmental influence on the human body and its response, allowing the creation of principles for enhanced design. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.