Comfort environment assessment based on bodily sensation in open air: relationship between comfort sensation and meteorological factors

The purpose of this study is to develop a method for assessing the comfort of an open-air environment, based on a questionnaire answered by inhabitants of urban areas. Eighty-nine inhabitants of three cities in the northern part of Japan and 18 inhabitants from the suburb of Tokyo responded to the survey. The dependence of comfort judgement on various meteorological factors was studied by using multivariate regression analysis. To construct a comfort environment assessment model, the focus was on a discomfort ratio, which represents what percentage of the inhabitants feels uncomfortable under certain ambient conditions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.