ANÁLISE DO NÍVEL DE ESTRESSE TÉRMICO DO PEDESTRE NA CIDADE DE JARDIM, MS

Abstract

The urban thermal comfort contributes to urban vitality and habitability once it attracts a larger number of people to open spaces; in addition, it encourages outdoor activities and walking trips. The climatically oriented urban design is decisive for the maintenance of the thermal comfort indexes of these spaces, however in many cities there are no mechanisms to regulate this practice. In small and medium-sized cities where there is still flexibility to manage the urban form, research that guides urban design can contribute to urban plans elaborations of that aim at the production of milder microclimates. Thus, this work aims to analyze the pedestrians level of thermal stress in the city of Jardim, Mato Grosso do Sul. The method is based on the analysis of the thermal stress index Equivalent Physiological Temperature (PET) with computational simulation by the software ENVI- met, on a summer day, in an existing urban setting and urban setting with tree vegetation consolidation provided for the municipal plan. The results showed that, for the day and times analyzed (9am, 12pm and 3pm), the average thermal stress level for the pedestrian was that of strong heat stress; in the scenario with increased afforestation, there was an average reduction of 4.4oC in the PET index, resulting in moderate heat stress. It was observed that the increase in tree coverage had a greater influence on the PET index on the south side of the sidewalk, where there was no shading, than on the north side, in a place partially shaded by buildings. It is concluded that, despite the improvement provided by the increase of tree vegetation in the pedestrian’s level of thermal stress in the studied area, it was not enough for the adequate maintenance of the thermal comfort conditions in the study area, highlighting the importance of new studies that give climatic guidance to the city urban design.