Assessing Community-Scale Multi-Sensory Environmental Comfort: A Case Study of Daxue Community, Taipei

As global urbanization accelerates, the United Nations projects that nearly 68% of the world’s population will live in cities by 2050, increasing pressure on urban livability under climate change, pollution, and urban heat islands. Conventional comfort research often relies on single indicators (e.g., temperature) and misses how people experience outdoor spaces. This study proposes a multi-domain framework integrating thermal, visual, acoustic, and air-quality factors to evaluate community-scale outdoor comfort. Fieldwork was conducted in a dense, mixed-use traditional neighborhood in the Daxue community during an Intensive Observation Period (IOP). The researcher walked a predefined route with multiple checkpoints at scheduled times to represent daily outdoor activities. A mobile sensing device continuously recorded air temperature, humidity, wind speed, illumination, sound level, and air-quality indicators, while structured qualitative rating scales documented in-situ perceptions of comfort across domains.

To bridge the gap between monitoring evidence and community perceptions, the study convened a participatory mapping workshop with residents and other stakeholders. Monitoring results were shared as prompts, and participants collaboratively identified perceived environmental hotspots and discussed the contextual drivers behind them. Beyond jointly proposing improvement strategies and practical solutions, the workshop also helped residents and stakeholders better understand local environmental issues and strengthen environmental awareness. By combining objective monitoring, qualitative perception records, and participatory mapping, this approach links environmental science with community-informed decision-making and provides actionable evidence for community-scale planning and design. Future work will extend the framework across seasons and diverse urban typologies to refine and generalize the proposed model.