Investigating the relationship between physiological equivalent temperature (FES) and urban morphology using mobile measurements: The case of Akdeniz University Campus

The increasing effects of climate change are felt more especially in urban areas, and accordingly, the physical, social and psychological effects on the inhabitants are gradually increasing. When the scientific researches are analysed, it is seen that the issue is handled in many aspects such as planning, public health, environmental impact, social impact, economy; and the emphasis on importance, consideration and preparation is gradually increasing. Climate change occurring on a macro scale is felt more due to the anthropogenic effects of the urban area. Therefore, minimising these impacts also enables the city to increase its resilience against climate change. The most important effect of global climate change in urban areas, which can have fatal consequences, is increasing heat waves. As it is known, urban areas heat up more than rural areas due to anthropogenic effects, and temperatures that increase even more during heat waves can have fatal consequences. At this point, increasing the climate resilience of urban areas and managing climate comfort is of great importance. Ensuring the climatic comfort of the urban area makes it necessary to address the urban climate with measurement-monitoring-evaluation-planning stages. For this reason, the city needs to be monitored and evaluated from meso scale to micro scale. Different measurement techniques are used to reveal the climatic structure of the city. The main ones are local measurement with meteorological stations, measuring surface temperatures with remote sensing, and local measurement techniques with mobile stations. The production of climatic comfort maps of the urban area based on the findings to be obtained through these data and the association of these maps with the morphological structure of the city will be an important basis for the development of strategies to increase the climatic resistance of the urban area. In this thesis study, PET (Physiological Equivalent Temperature) comfort maps of Akdeniz University were obtained by making bicycle mobile measurements and the factors affecting comfort were revealed by associating with the morphological structure of the campus area. The measurements were made between 17.02.2024 and 14.04.2024, which includes the winter and spring periods. NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), sky view factor, street width, street direction data were used to determine the morphological characteristics of the campus area. Meteorological data on air temperature, wind and humidity were used to evaluate the effects of these factors on climatic comfort. As a result of the findings of the thesis study, it was determined that the climatic comfort of Akdeniz University Campus in the spring period mainly varies between mild cold thermal stress and stress-free environment. When the distributions of each degree of comfort are analysed, it is found that the meteorological condition that affects the climatic structure of the university campus the most is wind; when the relationships between the morphological structure of the school and climatic comfort are examined, it is determined that the most influential morphological feature is the road directions.