Thermal comfort in outdoor spaces: open markets in Presidente Prudente - SP

• Grant number: 14/08564-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: August 01, 2014
• End date: August 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Architecture and Urbanism Technology
• Principal Investigator: Carolina Lotufo Bueno Bartholomei
• Grantee: Bruna Hamanaka
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia (FCT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Presidente Prudente. Presidente Prudente , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Recently, studies on thermal comfort in outdoor spaces have been widely discussed, not only because they are essential to the quality of urban life, but also are a determinant for the permanence in the social space. The presence on outdoors is often not an option, but a necessity for work, like the case of peddlers. This raises the question: do people who work outdoors have the same thermal sensation and perception of pedestrians/users present in the same location? Thus, this project aims to research and evaluate the actual thermal comfort and the calculated thermal comfort of merchants and users (pedestrians) who work and visit fairs in the city of Presidente Prudente - SP. Two open markets were selected for analysis. The first is located at Rua Francisco Trevia in Jardim Estoril, and takes place on Saturdays from 06:15 to 12:00 am. The other is located in downtown, on Avenida Manoel Goulart, and takes place on weekends, Saturdays from 16:00h to 21:00h and on Sundays in the mornings, from 06:15 to 12:00 am. In order to maintain the same schedule of measurements, the downtown fair will be evaluated on Sunday (morning). Data to characterize the microclimate (air temperature, globe temperature, relative humidity and wind speed) will be collected while users and local workers are being interviewed. From the information obtained, the actual thermal sensation and thermal sensation calculated through predictive indices of comfort may be compared. This way, it will be checked if there are any differences in the thermal perception of the two analyzed groups (merchants and pedestrians/users) and which performance of thermal comfort indices regarding the presented reality.