A systematic review of the influence of physiological factors on outdoor thermal comfort
Mengqi Luo, Fei Guo, Haiquan Tang, Ruiqi Ming, Li Huang, Huijun Zhao
Abstract
Research on the impact of outdoor thermal comfort on public activities and public health has received increasing attention in recent years. Variations in physiological indicators play an essential role in thermal sensation , but because they are difficult to access, the key elements and their mechanisms of influence on thermal sensation and health are still not clear compared to other human thermal comfort influencing factors. This study provides a holistic and systematic review of outdoor thermal comfort research based on physiological indicators was conducted using a literature meta-analysis and CiteSpace visualization software. The results show that: (1) Physiological factors have received increasing attention in the field of outdoor thermal comfort research, and the main research method analyzes a combination of field physiological index measurements and subjective questionnaire results. (2) Thermal comfort models are dominated by the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) and Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), which are related to the ability of both models to characterize subjective and objective perceptions more accurately. (3) Skin temperature was the primary physiological factor of interest in most studies, followed by blood pressure and heart rate. Possible future research fields include comparing different seasons, differences in populations, unification of experimental standards, variations under different urban morphological characteristics, and the relationship between other physiological factors and thermal sensation. This review offers a holistic and systematic account of the physiological factors related to outdoor thermal comfort and can provide guidance to designers to create urban spaces and improve urban livability in the context of climate change .