UTCI: validation and practical application to the assessment of urban outdoor thermal comfort

We introduce here the structure and elements to the recently-developed Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), as well as operational procedure relating to it. This is then followed by a demonstration of how the UTCI can be applied to bioclimatic surveys, using data from a study carried out in the sub-tropical urban area of Curitiba, Brazil. The empirical data from that were found to confirm the assumptions behind the UTCI model, which also supplied adequate predictions of pedestrians' behaviour as regards clothing and thermal sensation. Finally, in the context of urban planning, we show that the UTCI captures the influence of the design characteristics of streets and public spaces on urban microclimate, and its impact on pedestrian thermal comfort.