Seasonal Difference of Thermal Comfort in New and Old Neighborhoods (Case Study: Jolfa and Mardavij Districts of Isfahan)

Comfort in open spaces is one of the main bases of the use of these spaces by citizens, and it is essential to create an appropriate environment for them by protecting against inappropriate climatic conditions. In addition, providing comfort is associated with the basic human needs and how to respond to it is effective in the quality of space. On the other hand, the purpose of human behavior is to achieve comfort, but even in similar spaces, the comfort range is not the same for all and it depends on the variety of people present, experiences and expectations, level of satisfaction with environmental conditions, structure and type of space, etc. In this regard, due to the importance and significance of thermal comfort in the residents' thermal satisfaction with the public open spaces of residential neighborhoods as common spaces, this study aims to evaluate and analyze the thermal comfort situation in public open spaces of residential neighborhoods.
In addition, by the help of review of literature of researches, it can be concluded that despite the necessity and importance of thermal comfort in urban open spaces, the studies devoted to this issue are less than evaluation of the thermal comfort in buildings and closed spaces.. However, no specific research has ever been done to compare the thermal comfort levels in old and new neighborhoods. Therefore, the present study tries to compare the thermal comfort range in the old and new neighborhoods, as well as studying and analyzing the thermal comfort situation in the open spaces of residential districts of Isfahan.
In this research, an old neighborhood and a new district in Isfahan were under study and field analysis. Based on this, the thermal comfort range in selected residential areas was estimated using field observations and applying correlation and nickel methods estimate. Based on the nickel method, 100 questionnaires were considered to survey 100 people in each square under study (each neighborhood and each season) where a total of 400 questionnaires will be completed randomly by the users of the two selected neighborhoods in two cold and hot seasons.
In the present study, firstly, the climatic features of the city of Isfahan were introduced and then the old neighborhood of Jolfa and the new district of Mardavayj were selected for field studies. In this regard, climatic variables including temperature, relative humidity and wind speed were measured using data logger instruments, and the questionnaires were completed by users in selected public spaces of the selected neighborhoods in Bahman, Esfand and Mordad months (February, March, August). The results of comparing the comfort levels in the studied neighborhoods indicate that the old Jolfa neighborhood is within the comfort zone in both warm and cold seasons and the new Mardavayj neighborhood is within the comfort zone in the cold season and outside this area in the warm season. In the end, based on the findings of the research, solutions have been developed to improve the comfort conditions in the open spaces of the neighborhoods of Isfahan.