Direct and indirect effects of multisensory modalities on visitor’ s thermal comfort in an urban park in a humid-hot climate

ABSTRACT Thermal comfort in outdoor spaces is of vital importance to human health and well-being, and affects the livability of cities. In a humid-hot region with elevated temperatures, it is difficult to improve the thermal experience of urban residents by changing objective conditions such as the microclimate. This study created a set of experience indices in different dimensions including visual, auditory, and olfactory perceptions and psychological cognitions, to explore the influencing factors and mechanisms of visitor’s thermal comfort in an urban park. We found that visual, auditory, and olfactory experience indices and psychological cognition indices were both strongly correlated with thermal comfort (Pearson correlation coefficients were above 0.3). By analyzing a survey data with a structural equation model, we found that Visual, auditory, and olfactory experiences have a complete, mediating effect on thermal comfort. Explicitly, visual, auditory, and olfactory perceptions affect thermal comfort through two mediating variables: thermal sensation and psychological cognitions. In turn, thermal sensation and psychological cognitions have a direct effect on visitor’s thermal comfort. Psychological cognitions has the largest direct effect on thermal comfort. Quantitatively, a 1-unit increase in psychological cognitions produces an increase of 0.601 units in thermal comfort. A potential approach is to improve multisensory modalities that affect necessary sensory perception and psychological cognitions of visitors. The findings of this study provide a valuable reference for the planning and design of recreational spaces in humid-hot regions and for the studies of outdoor thermal comfort.