Walking Behavior and Outdoor Thermal Comfort: Case Study –Abu Dhabi-

Abstract

The present research will focus on the concept of walkability and it is a relationship with outdoor thermal comfort. The main objective is to evaluate how far a pedestrian might be able to walk before experiencing discomfort in an outdoor environment; the thermal comfort indices used the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET), calculated using Envimet 04 Software. Walking comfort indices used skin wettedness to simulate the physiological of the body that reacts to the environment. The case study located preferably in two different areas, one is a shaded area (garden), and the second one is an urban zone. The methodology adopted is based firstly on field measurement of thermal comfort and secondly on a simulation of the walking comfort of people. The findings from this research were found that shadowing affects walking behavior in Abu Dhabi during the daytime of the hot season.