Establishing the thresholds for outdoor thermal comfort in cold climate urban areas

The present study investigated outdoor thermal comfort conditions in the city of Erzurum, Turkiye, which is located in a cold climate zone (Dfb). A one-year field survey was conducted in various locations throughout the city, taking into consideration seasonal variations and pedestrian flow. A total of 2632 valid questionnaires were collected. For each participant, the Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET,⁰C) value was determined using operational variables from the questionnaires and environmental variables recorded during the survey. The obtained PET values were combined with subjective data, which included participants’ assessments of their perception of microclimatic conditions. This enabled the determination of the Neutral PET value, the neutral PET range, and the neutral PET intervals corresponding to the thermal sensation categories for Erzurum. The lower 12.2 °C and upper bounds 19.3 °C of the PET for Erzurum differ from the 18.1 °C to 23.0 °C range identified for Central and Western Europe. This demonstrated that the population of Erzurum exhibits greater resistance to cold weather conditions compared to that of Central and Western Europe Furthermore, using linear multiple regression, a new thermal comfort index named Erzurum Outdoor Thermal Comfort Index (EOCI) was developed to predict the thermal perception of a large group of individuals living in the cold climate zone of Erzurum. The results highlight the importance of obtaining specific values for the analysis of outdoor thermal comfort in distinct climatic regions.