Pedestrian thermal comfort is a critical factor influencing urban livability and sustainability. However, existing models often overlook its cumulative impact from dynamic thermal experiences throughout the whole-trip. This study builds on previous findings, conducting outdoor mobile observations in Guangzhou’s urban blocks on clear summer days. Methods for assessing thermal comfort during pedestrian travel were tested and refined, taking into account participants’ skin temperatures and accumulated heat storage. The research found that the dynamic changes and non-uniform distribution of radiant temperature are the main characteristics of pedestrians’ thermal experiences during summer clear weather and are critical factors affecting their thermal comfort. Non-uniform exposure to direct solar radiation can cause variations in pedestrians’ instantaneous thermal sensations, and dynamic thermal experiences can lead to the formation of memorized thermal sensations, causing a deviation between instantaneous and whole-trip thermal sensations. There is a significant correlation between pedestrians’ mean skin temperature and heat storage and their thermal experiences over the past 10–25 min. Regression analysis provided different weights that could represent the memory component in whole-trip thermal sensations. The findings provide a theoretical basis for understanding pedestrian thermal comfort in dynamic outdoor environments and will help improve the thermal quality of outdoor travel spaces.

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Source: Zhao, H., Xu, G., Shi, Y., Zhai, Y., Zhao, L., & Brown, R. D. (2024). Evaluation of pedestrian thermal comfort from a whole-trip perspective: An outdoor empirical study. Sustainable Cities and Society, 115, 105872. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2024.105872