Modeling urban microclimate to ameliorate thermal sensation conditions in outdoor areas in Athens (Greece)

Previous research that conducted in three typical public areas in Athens showed that the acceptable air temperature range that determines thermal comfort varies among 17.0–21.0 °C and 26.0–32.0 °C for the cool and the warm period of the year, respectively. The present research goes further and determines the acceptable environmental conditions via two wide acknowledged thermal indices, which are PET and UTCI, in order to evaluate, whether or not, thermal comfort conditions are presented in three typical outdoor urban areas of a Mediterranean city, like Athens. Thus, environmental model ENVI-met 3.1 was applied to calculate the daily microclimatic variation of the three examined areas for the same dates, one typical for the warm period and one typical for the cool period. Thermal sensation conditions were then assessed by the indices. Results showed that the examined areas approach the acceptable environmental conditions only for the cool day, whereas an assumed urban design scenario was able only to ameliorate thermal discomfort but not to reach thermal comfort during a hot day.