Outdoor thermal comfort study of an urban university campus in Malaysia

Abstract

Thermal comfort is an important parameter in determining the pedestrian satisfaction dealing with daily routine activities in the outdoor environment. Therefore, the objective of this study is to investigate the outdoor thermal comfort of an urban university campus in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Thermal comfort assessment is done by the field measurement and survey for different physical activities such as sitting, walking, and standing at the outdoor and semi-outdoor condition. This study was carried out from March to May 2017 during the daytime at seven zones that being most attracted gathering places for the on-campus students. The zones represent the locations of the field measurement. The thermal sensation results shown that most of the respondents voted for slightly warm (28-34%) and warm (29-34%) for the outdoor condition and 13-15% and 35-36% voted for slightly warm and warm respectively for the semi-outdoor condition. The respondents' thermal comfort for the semi-outdoor condition were improved where the respondents voted for slightly cool (19-21%) and yet no respondent voted the very hot scale for the outdoor condition. In term of the thermal acceptance, 38-42% and 47-51% voted the acceptable scale for the outdoor and semi-outdoor conditions respectively. As for the thermal preference, 35-36% and 33-34% prefer slightly cooler and cool considerably for the outdoor condition. While for the semi-outdoor condition, 47-52% and 17-20% prefer slightly cooler and cool considerably respectively. In general, the overall comfort of the respondents were neutral with 54-62% and 79-81% for the outdoor and semi-outdoor conditions respectively. In conclusion, this study proved that the occupants who live in a hot and humid climate specifically within a build-up area were adapted to and comfort with the higher temperature humidity level.