Mean radiant temperature in idealised urban canyons--examples from Freiburg, Germany.

Studies on the thermal comfort of humans in urban areas require meteorological data such as air temperature, air humidity, wind speed, and short- and long-wave fluxes. In such studies radiation fluxes can be expressed by the mean radiant temperature--a parameter with high variability in urban areas due to variability in global radiation. Wind speed in urban areas is influenced by urban obstacles and their orientation. Both mean radiant temperature and wind speed can be modified or changed by different height-to-width ratios or orientation of urban structures. Modifications to these parameters by typical urban structures (represented by the height-to-width ratio) can result in variation of mean radiant temperature over a range of more than 30°C, which can correspond to three levels of thermal stress. The results presented here provide a possible means of comparing different urban configurations in different climate regions.