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Roots and Mechanisms of Thermal Comfort Expectations: From Individuals’ Own Background to Adaptation and Change

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Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment (COBEE 2022)

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Abstract

The notion of thermal comfort has evolved through time, being the answer to various changes and influences in the built environment. Despite the common engineering definition, with measured ideal conditions matching with a state of neutrality, the concept is far more complex and requires a holistic multidisciplinary approach. Two main aspects are pivotal in the concept of comfort: expectation and adaptation, which depend themselves on several diversity-driving factors. However, their influence is nowadays generally neglected in buildings’ design and operation, and standards. The aim of this work is to understand and acknowledge, by means of a literature analysis, the different aspects that contribute to the inner workings of thermal comfort expectations and adaptation. The paper addresses all the different dynamics constituting the users’ thermal background and their attitudes towards the indoor environment. Only an in deep understanding of the possible differences between different users’ expectation and adaptation mechanisms will trigger an informed human-centric design process.

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Acknowledgements

This work has been conducted within the EU H2020 Cultural-E project funded from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N. 870072.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Venice, Italy

    Lorenza Pistore & Wilmer Pasut

  2. Department of Architecture, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea

    Wilmer Pasut

Authors
  1. Lorenza Pistore
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  2. Wilmer Pasut
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lorenza Pistore .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Liangzhu Leon Wang

  2. Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Hua Ge

  3. Department of Civil, Environmental and Architectural Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Zhiqiang John Zhai

  4. Department of Civil and Building Engineering, Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, QC, Canada

    Dahai Qi

  5. Centre for Zero Energy Building Studies, Concordia University, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Mohamed Ouf

  6. School of Environment and Architecture, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

    Chanjuan Sun

  7. School of Building Services Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi’an, Shaanxi, China

    Dengjia Wang

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Pistore, L., Pasut, W. (2023). Roots and Mechanisms of Thermal Comfort Expectations: From Individuals’ Own Background to Adaptation and Change. In: Wang, L.L., et al. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Building Energy and Environment. COBEE 2022. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9822-5_251

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-9822-5_251

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-19-9821-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-19-9822-5

  • eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)

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