Enhancing outdoor thermal comfort through diverse vegetation, materials, and water bodies: A case study of Fath-Abad Garden in Kerman, Iran

IF 12 1区工程技术 Q1 CONSTRUCTION & BUILDING TECHNOLOGY

Sustainable Cities and Society Pub Date : 2025-10-01 DOI:10.1016/j.scs.2025.106844

Arian Safavi-Gerdini, Ali Shafaat, Morteza Adib, Saeid Norouzian-Maleki

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Abstract

This study evaluates the microclimatic conditions of Fath-Abad Garden in Kerman, Iran, through field measurements and questionnaire surveys conducted during both summer and winter seasons. Mobile meteorological instruments were used to record variables influencing outdoor thermal comfort (OTC). The collected data were simulated using ENVI-met software and subsequently validated. Thermal comfort was assessed using the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) index. Fourteen scenarios were developed for each season, focusing on three key factors: the central axis structure, surface material albedo, and vegetation type. These scenarios aimed to analyze the influence of both hardscape and softscape modifications on OTC. Simulation results showed that PET decreased by 1.95°C in summer and increased by 1.32°C in winter. This study proposes a season-sensitive and integrative approach that analyzes the combined impacts of vegetation species, surface albedo, and water features, offering practical design strategies to enhance OTC in historic urban gardens in arid climates. The findings highlight a hybrid strategy inspired by the traditional Persian garden model, focusing on a balanced mix of deciduous and evergreen trees with medium-albedo materials to ensure thermal comfort in both hot and cold seasons. This methodological and practical contribution combines empirical surveys with simulations, providing transferable design strategies for enhancing OTC in urban gardens and open spaces of arid and semi-arid cities facing climate change pressures.

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通过不同的植被、材料和水体来提高室外热舒适性：以伊朗克尔曼的法特阿巴德花园为例

本研究通过在夏季和冬季进行的实地测量和问卷调查，评估了伊朗Kerman Fath-Abad花园的小气候条件。利用移动气象仪器记录影响室外热舒适（OTC）的变量。收集的数据使用ENVI-met软件进行模拟，并随后进行验证。采用生理等效温度（PET）指数评价热舒适性。每个季节开发了14个场景，重点关注三个关键因素：中轴结构、地表材料反照率和植被类型。这些场景旨在分析硬景观和软景观修改对OTC的影响。模拟结果表明，夏季PET降低1.95°C，冬季PET升高1.32°C。本研究提出了一种季节敏感的综合方法，分析了植被种类、地表反照率和水景的综合影响，为干旱气候下历史城市花园的OTC提供了实用的设计策略。研究结果强调了受传统波斯花园模式启发的混合策略，重点是落叶和常绿树木与中等反照率材料的平衡混合，以确保热季节和冷季节的热舒适。这种方法和实践的贡献结合了实证调查和模拟，为面临气候变化压力的干旱和半干旱城市的城市花园和开放空间提供了可转移的设计策略。

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来源期刊

Sustainable Cities and Society Social Sciences-Geography, Planning and Development

CiteScore

22.00

自引率

13.70%

发文量

810

审稿时长

27 days

期刊介绍： Sustainable Cities and Society (SCS) is an international journal that focuses on fundamental and applied research to promote environmentally sustainable and socially resilient cities. The journal welcomes cross-cutting, multi-disciplinary research in various areas, including: 1. Smart cities and resilient environments; 2. Alternative/clean energy sources, energy distribution, distributed energy generation, and energy demand reduction/management; 3. Monitoring and improving air quality in built environment and cities (e.g., healthy built environment and air quality management); 4. Energy efficient, low/zero carbon, and green buildings/communities; 5. Climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban environments; 6. Green infrastructure and BMPs; 7. Environmental Footprint accounting and management; 8. Urban agriculture and forestry; 9. ICT, smart grid and intelligent infrastructure; 10. Urban design/planning, regulations, legislation, certification, economics, and policy; 11. Social aspects, impacts and resiliency of cities; 12. Behavior monitoring, analysis and change within urban communities; 13. Health monitoring and improvement; 14. Nexus issues related to sustainable cities and societies; 15. Smart city governance; 16. Decision Support Systems for trade-off and uncertainty analysis for improved management of cities and society; 17. Big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence applications and case studies; 18. Critical infrastructure protection, including security, privacy, forensics, and reliability issues of cyber-physical systems. 19. Water footprint reduction and urban water distribution, harvesting, treatment, reuse and management; 20. Waste reduction and recycling; 21. Wastewater collection, treatment and recycling; 22. Smart, clean and healthy transportation systems and infrastructure;