Temporal distribution of human thermal comfort conditions in and around Diyarbakir city, Turkey

TOY S., Kejanli D. T., Koc A., Koc C.

GEOJOURNAL, cilt.88, sa.4, ss.4389-4402, 2023 (ESCI) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 88 Sayı: 4
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s10708-023-10872-z
  • Dergi Adı: GEOJOURNAL
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Emerging Sources Citation Index (ESCI), Scopus, IBZ Online, International Bibliography of Social Sciences, ABI/INFORM, Aquatic Science & Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), CAB Abstracts, Compendex, Environment Index, Geobase, Hospitality & Tourism Complete, Hospitality & Tourism Index, Index Islamicus, Linguistic Bibliography, Pollution Abstracts, Public Affairs Index, Veterinary Science Database, DIALNET, Civil Engineering Abstracts
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.4389-4402
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Climate action, Bioclimate, Outdoor human thermal comfort conditions, Heat stress, PHYSIOLOGICAL EQUIVALENT TEMPERATURE, URBAN, CLIMATE, OUTDOOR, SPACES, URBANIZATION, ENVIRONMENTS, BIOCLIMATE, PATTERNS, RANGES
  • Atatürk Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Diyarbakir city, in the torrid southeast Anatolia region, harbours significant socioeconomic potentials and a population of over 2 million. Climate factors affect human activities in the city due to heat stress in summer which increases with climate change. Therefore, it is important to analyse outdoor human thermal comfort conditions (OHTCCs) to take required actions for the sustainability and improvement of socioeconomic life. This paper evaluates OHTCCs for the city over a 10-year period for rural and semi-urban sites and 5-year period for urban site. Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and RayMan, a bioclimate model, were chosen to determine OHTCCs from meteorological parameters. Results indicate that the frequency of heat stress is higher in urban (32.0%) than that in rural (25.6%) and in semi-urban (23.4%) sites while that of comfortable conditions is highest in urban (17.2%), followed by semi-urban (17.1%) and rural (15.8%) sites. Percentage of the cold stress is lowest (13.6%) in urban, followed by rural (21.4%) and semi-urban (22.4%) sites. High variability of summer heat stress over the sites can be explained by surface characteristics and local air circulation patterns. Semi-urban site provides some advantages for experiencing less heat stress since it has the mixed surface characteristics with vegetated and structured zones which can supply moisture to the environment to moderate OHTCCs. It is suggested that authorities should consider the urban planning and implementation actions to improve physical environment and human quality of life and to ensure the sustainability of economic activities.