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Investigating the transient conditions of “Sabat” space and its influence on pedestrian sensations during thermal walks. Algiers’ Casbah case study

Ali Smail, Sabah, Zemmouri, Noureddine, Djenane, Moussadek, Nikolopoulou, Marialena (2024) Investigating the transient conditions of “Sabat” space and its influence on pedestrian sensations during thermal walks. Algiers’ Casbah case study. Building and Environment, 261 . Article Number 111760. ISSN 0360-1323. (doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111760) (KAR id:106371)

Abstract

Cities are already witnessing the impacts of climate change. Prolonged heat exposure have a direct effect on pedestrians’ thermoregulatory system, causing serious heat-related issues in the form of fatigue and thermal exhaustion. While the human body is capable of maintaining heat balance, excessive heat exposure combined with increasing heat loads can deteriorate the thermoregulatory process which leads to discomfort. Walkability is one of the significant challenges for climate change mitigation. Balancing the dichotomy of walking to mitigate climate change, and mitigating climate change to walk emphasizes the importance of promoting resilient walkability. In this context, the term “resilience” is used to highlight the need to design urban spaces able to adapt to increased urban heat, enabling pedestrians to tolerate and recover from discomfort conditions. This study investigates the potential of the “Sabat”, a traditional semi-outdoor space with lift-up design, and its distribution in generating transient thermal aeraulic conditions, and reducing fatigue sensation, hence, supporting a positive walking experience. Thermal walks have been conducted in Casbah of Algiers during temperate and hot weather conditions, in the context of uphill walking. Results revealed the alliesthesial effect of cool-shaded and ventilated Sabats to reduce fatigue sensation, which was confirmed by the significant correlation at lag-(-1) (r = 0.504, p < 0.001). Findings shed light on the importance of maintaining dynamic alliesthesia to create modulated restorative opportunities and offer starting point for hypothesizing broader trends for future implementation of Sabat design in modern cities.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1016/j.buildenv.2024.111760
Uncontrolled keywords: Walkability; lift-up design; fatigue sensation; alliesthesia; semi-outdoor; resilient comfort
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > Kent School of Architecture and Planning
Funders: University of Kent (https://ror.org/00xkeyj56)
Depositing User: Sabah Ali Smail
Date Deposited: 21 Jun 2024 13:29 UTC
Last Modified: 28 Jun 2024 09:14 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/106371 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

University of Kent Author Information

Ali Smail, Sabah.

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Nikolopoulou, Marialena.

Creator's ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0528-2145
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