PLEA2012 - 28th Conference, Opportunities, Limits & Needs Towards an environmentally responsible architecture Lima, Perú 7-9 November 2012 Climatic Comfort in Gardens and Public Squares of the City of Colima REYNA VALLADARES-ANGUIANO 1 , ADALBERTO TEJEDA MARTÍNEZ 2 , PETER CHUNG ALONSO 3 , NAHEMA CATALÁN VEGA 4 1, 3, 4 Facultad de Arquitectura y Diseño, Universidad de Colima, Colima, México 2 Programa de Estudios de Cambio Climático , Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, México ABSTRACT: This paper analyzes the physical and microclimatic characteristics of eight urban parks in order to know how the green areas, vegetation and surface cover material configuration can reduce the air temperature, through the correlation of different variables like superficial temperature, relative humidity, vapour pressure, illumination and shaded areas. The same variables are measured in a 100- meter influence area around three parks, in order to know how the urban context conditions modify the inside air temperature. Based on the review of the mechanism of the formation of the urban heat island and local conditions, it is concluded with a set of urban heat island mitigation strategies. Keywords: urban heat island, climate, comfort INTRODUCTION The results of measuring thermic conditions in public areas opened in a subhumid tropical city are presented here; these should be useful in an attempt to make future parks and gardens more agreeable to those using them and to contribute to a better quality of life. We start from an analysis of parks and gardens, since various authors (Jáuregui and Heres [8], Higueras [5], RUROS [10], Brown [1]) consider them beneficial to urban environmental conditions. This research addresses two initial questions: How do urban indices influence the microclimate of public areas? And: What configuration and characteristics should the surfaces of urban open spaces present in order to reduce the air temperature and to exert a greater influence on their immediate context? The hypothesis is that the ambient temperature in a public area of an urban unit increases due to a greater density of buildings and paved surfaces in comparison with open spaces, which have more vegetation, shaded areas and permeable surfaces. The results correspond to information obtained between 2009 and 2010 in open spaces and their contexts or surroundings in the city of Colima (Mexico) 1 (Fig. 1). Figure 1: Climatic charts of the Mexican Republic and the state of Colima. Climatic types according to Köppen [6] METHODOLOGY A quantitative-correlational strategy was applied for interpreting and crossing the urban data with climatic variables. The methodology used was of a vertical or tangential cut, as it comprised only the results obtained within the lapse of one solar day in two dry periods (without any rainfall), that is, two days of monitoring per unit of analysis. The gardens of El Moralete, Vista hermosa, Corregidora, Villa de Álvarez and Villa Izcalli were monitored for 12 hours daily distributed in three periods: from 7:00 a.m. to 9:30 a.m; from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m; and from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thus, there were twelve days of micro-climatic recording in three successive schedules, giving 36 hours of recording [2].