Evaluation of thermal comfort in outdoor public space: Case of study: City of Annaba-Algeria

Abstract

Outdoor public spaces play an important role in the articulation of a city. The thermal comfort of these spaces has become a problem because of climate variations. Our work aims to study thermal comfort in outdoor public spaces in order to tackle the variability between microclimatic parameters which were taken from several field stations. Furthermore, it aims to identify the effect of the different factors and thermal conditions on both the microclimate and the external thermal comfort. A comparative study between three public spaces of the city of Annaba (course, square and garden) has been conducted. The method adopted for this research is based on the measurement of microclimatic parameters. The measurement took place during August 2016. It was performed by a thermal hygrometer to cover air temperature and relative humidity. Then, a thermal anemometer was used in order to estimate wind speed, every 2 hours from 06:00am until 08:00pm. The obtained results confirm the variability of the thermal environment in an urban environment and the impact of vegetation, urban morphology and water on outdoor thermal comfort.