Eng Keng Yu Ivan, Liu Jiawen, Tan Junjie, Yong Xin Shen, Zhou Kai Jing
Academic Advisor: Ms. Sadaf Ansari
For a tropical setting such as NUS, ‘Thermal Comfort’ is the most important criteria that impacts student behaviour and perception of walking on campus. Adopting a quantitative framework of assessment, we measured trends in the airflow, temperature and humidity for three different ‘design conditions’. Two of these conditions exist currently – the uncovered pedestrian pathways along roads and the sheltered Yellow Corridor. This data was compared to conditions along an elevated forested setting – measured at the Kent Ridge Forest on campus and at the Hort Park Tree Top Walk. We analysed the data to determine trends – with a focus to ascertain if the tree canopy significantly mitigates/changes the pedestrian experience with respect to thermal comfort. Our results indicate some meaningful trends for temperature, while there were mixed results for humidity and wind speeds. Based on this, we recommend the undertaking of a broader study with greater variation in weather patterns to confirm our initial findings.
Keywords: Built Environment & Green Infrastructure, Urban Design, Green Spaces, Walking, Car-lite