Urban Sustainability and Climate Issues: The Effect of Physical Parameters of Streetscape on the Thermal Comfort in Urban Public Spaces; Case Study: Karimkhan-e-Zand Street, Shiraz, Iran

One of the most important issues in urban studies relating to climate and environmental sustainability is the analysis of the thermal conditions of urban public spaces, especially urban streets, since this issue seems to affect the comfort of citizens using such spaces. Thus, the main aim of the present study is to investigate the effect of streetscape parameters on the thermal comfort of citizens using urban streets in a hot summer and in a hot semi-arid climate. For this purpose, Karimkhan-e-Zand Street in Shiraz, Iran, was selected as the case study. The selected street is a historical and popular public space of Shiraz. In the present study, using physical and micro-climatic data analyzed in ENVI-met v4 software, the thermal comfort conditions of Karimkhan-e-Zand in Shiraz on 10 July were simulated during the hottest day of the year. Furthermore, the relationships between physical street parameters and micro-climatic parameters and their effects on the thermal comfort index (PMV) were investigated through running a set of regressions in STATA 14 and analysis of ENVI-met v4 output maps. The results of the present study show that the thermal comfort of the citizens, which is determined by the PMV index values, is in very poor condition in almost all the studied hours, and the air temperature has the greatest effect compared to other micro-climatic parameters on the PMV index. The results of present study also show a significant relationship between the sky view factor and mean radiant temperature, as well as between the surface albedo and relative humidity. Furthermore, the type of vegetation and the aspect ratio of the street affect the level of increase in thermal comfort on the street.