Spatial optimization procedure for land-use arrangement in a community based on a human comfort perspective

The arrangement of land use substantially affects outdoor human comfort. The purposes of this study were to develop a spatial optimization procedure that involves combining simulated annealing algorithm with a microclimate model (ENVI-met) and to identify the relationship between the spatial pattern of the major cooling source and human comfort. The procedure is an assessment tool for appropriately designing living space on a community scale. The physiological equivalent temperature (PET) was used as the index of human comfort, and the objective of optimization was to minimize the difference in the PET to 23 °C within the study area. Four types of land use, namely buildings, paddies, parks, and ponds, were considered. Given the types of land use and the land areas, the procedure is used to determine the optimal layout that provides the most comfortable environment. The results revealed that the optimal design effectively improved the homogeneity of human comfort quantitatively and spatially in summer. Human comfort in the entire area was improved when the prevailing wind first passes through cooling sources, such as the paddies, and the walkways are easier to cool when the cooling sources are located nearby. The results of the spatial optimization procedure can further be applied to determine the relationship between the spatial pattern of land use and human comfort, and the relationship can be used as a reference for future research on community design.