Evaluation of bioclimatic comfort area with heat index: A case study of Kocaeli

Abstract

The main reason for technological developments is to make human life more comfortable. Bioclimatic comfort areas are areas where people feel the most comfortable and comfortable in terms of climate. As a result of global climate changes, the temperature in the world is increasing day by day moreover increase in terms of people living in our country and other countries which the need for comfortable and comfortable spaces increases in all seasons. Bioclimatic comfort areas are the most needed in the summer months. However, the average temperature increases day by day in all seasons due to climate change. For this reason, within the scope of this study, the most suitable bioclimatic comfort areas were calculated with the HEAT index by using the average temperature and humidity maps for the fall, winter, spring, and summer seasons of 2019. While creating temperature and humidity maps, a point database was created for the neighborhoods in Kocaeli Province, temperature and humidity data were combined in this database. The temperature and humidity map for each season was open-source code the Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation method in the QGIS 3.16 software was transformed into a map in raster format. The heat index was created by using temperature and relative humidity maps in raster format. Then, the relationship between the created heat index maps and morphological factors was examined.