Mapping temperature, humidity, air quality, and noise-related comfort conditions to identify urban planning issues: a case study of Ljubljana, Slovenia

This study advances urban planning and climate adaptation science by employing Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for a detailed assessment of urban microclimate and user comfort in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The research addresses a significant gap in urban environmental assessments by providing real-time, fine-granularity data to support urban planners in tackling comfort-related issues at the street level. Using a previously developed microclimate and user-comfort street assessment protocol, the study conducts an in-depth case analysis of five distinct streets in Ljubljana. Data on temperature, noise, humidity, and air quality were collected using ICT tools and analyzed with Geographic Information System (GIS) technology to map and identify zones with varying comfort levels. The methodology systematically analyses these data, allowing for descriptive and cumulative mapping of comfortable, uncomfortable, and extreme uncomfortable zones across diverse urban morphologies, including historic, contemporary, high-density, and low-density areas. By identifying microclimate and user-comfort issues, the study provides insights into site-specific conditions and reveals differences in conditions based on the type of urban pattern. On all five streets, we identified the presence of uncomfortable temperature and noise conditions. Street 1, Zone I is the most critical area, with extremely uncomfortable conditions for 24%−81% of the time and uncomfortable conditions for 68%−89% of the time. The findings demonstrate that environmental conditions can vary considerably between individual streets, within compact urban areas of Ljubljana. This underlines the value of spatially distributed data collection as a necessary complement to traditional monitoring systems, which are typically limited to only a few fixed locations used by the city. The confirmation of the hypothesis “Detailed microclimate and user comfort related data gathered by the ICT and GIS based protocol for street assessment can significantly assist urban planners in better recognition and interpretation of microclimate- and user comfort-related issues in urban environments” establishes the primary contribution of this research. This study offers a transparent, replicable method that urban planners can use to assess environmental conditions and make informed decisions for improving urban quality.