| Author: | Wang, Tianqi |
| Title: | Study on the preferred microclimate conditions for the elderly in public housing estates in Hong Kong based on passive observation method |
| Advisors: | Niu, Jianlei (BEEE) |
| Degree: | M.Eng. |
| Year: | 2022 |
| Subject: | Older people -- Recreation Older people -- Health and hygiene Human comfort Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering |
| Pages: | vi, 79 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | Hong Kong is trying hard to adapt to the effects of aging populations, climate changes and more intense urbanization. The elderly, as a huge group of citizens, use outdoor public areas frequently, and they are also vulnerable to climate changes. It is expected that the elderly's outdoor activities are more likely to be influenced by urban thermal environments. In view of this, this study aims to explore the outdoor thermal comfort and the preferred weather conditions of the elderly when conducting outdoor activities in Hong Kong, and to provide suggestions on improving thermal environments that the elderly's requirements in public housing estates. We measured thermal conditions in several site in two public housing estates: Sha Tin and Ho Man Tin, using mini weather stations, and calculated two thermal comfort indices Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) and Universal Thermal Index (UTCI) to assess outdoor environment in experiment sites. Simultaneously, passive observation was conducted in these sites to record the attendance and behavior of the elderly to explore the impacts of thermal environment on usage pattern of the elderly in public housing estates in Hong Kong. Usage pattern of the elderly was discussed under the PET and UTCI values to exam the applicability of PET and UTCI in evaluating the elderly's outdoor thermal comfort. Besides, the preferred weather conditions and features of areas to which the elderly often visited were revealed. (1) The results show that the elderly prefers a bit higher temperature and the UTCI range of 20-25 ℃ is thermally comfortable felt by the elderly. When UTCI value is less than 20 ℃, the elderly may increase heat and develop thermal comfort by doing sports. In addition, the elderly feel comfortable at the rising wind speed when the air temperature increases. While the wind speed range that they enjoy may provide a health concern to the elderly. Elder people prefer winds with larger fluctuations than mixed age group, which is 30%-70%. Besides, mean radiant temperature changing has a little effect on the thermal preference of the elderly in outdoor thermal environment. They only would like to stay longer in certain ranges of mean radiant temperature. Activity areas with sunshine are more preferred by the elderly. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6565.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 3.69 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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