Socio-economic Factors for the Perception of Outdoor Thermal Environments: Towards Climate-sensitive Urban Design

recent decades a number of parameters have influenced outdoor thermal conditions in cities worldwide. These influential parameters should be investigated to identify the consequences of such changes in human thermal perception. Following the understanding of the magnitude of effect of each factor, urban design policy makers gain a clear insight into the design of outdoor settings that are appropriate or tailored to meet the specific requirements of outdoor environment users. The fundamental notion of such framework lies within the concept of climate-sensitive design. In assessing the outdoor thermal comfort, the research, to date, has tended to focus more on thermal factors than non-thermal ones to explain users' thermal perception, behaviour and usage pattern in outdoor settings. It has now been evident that the role of non-thermal factors in thermal perception are of particular importance considering differing cultural, climatic, geographical and socio-economic contexts. Among non-thermal factors, socio-economic elements can take a decisive role in the perception of outdoor thermal environments. Nevertheless, the persistent lack of full understanding of the inter-relationship between these factors and definition of socio-economic factors causes misconception among the investigators as well as decision makers. This paper tries to position the socio-economic factors in outdoor thermal comfort studies through introducing the elements impacting the thermal perception keeping aside the thermal factors,. Positioning such factors includes a model that elaborates the eliciting information on these non-quantifiable factors and provides a framework for ensuring that the climate-sensitive design of outdoor places needs to become a key aspect of urban planning and design