Outdoor Thermal Comfort conditions in streets of an urban neighborhood: Evaluating micro-scale model in tropical- composite climate

Urban heat island (UHI) has appeared as a universal phenomenon that directly influences outdoor thermal comfort. Controlling the extreme heat in the outdoor environment of cities has been one of the main concerns in recent times. The present study aims to assess the thermal comfort conditions in an urban neighborhood in the tropical-composite climate of Bhopal City, India. The present study investigated the outdoor thermal comfort conditions in a neighborhood during the summer season using onsite monitoring of the microclimate parameters. The model simulation has been done for the neighborhood of Bhopal city using the ENVI-met V5 software. The existing model was validated using ground data. The variation or error in model data and on field measured data was calculated using RMSE values, mean % difference, and correlation coefficient. The RMSEs between model data and on field measured data air temperature, MRT, and RH in the study areas are around 1 degrees C, 5 degrees C, and 3% respectively. The result indicates that the simulated model could be used for thermal studies. The results showed that most of the streets in the neighborhood had extreme heat stress conditions during the peak hour of a hot summer day, i.e. high WBGT and UTCI values. The outcome of the research is a) validation of the ENVI-met model, and secondly, streets have high heat stress, i.e., WBGT and UTCI index. The street canyons that have low heat stress during peak summer time indicate mitigation measures that can be adopted for future neighborhood planning. The study's outcome could provide a theoretical design reference for developing thermally efficient neighborhoods. This would help to mitigate the extreme heat conditions and ultimately improve public health conditions.