Effect of real-time thermal conditions and thermal perceptions on public attitudes toward urban-cooling strategies

• Novel integration of thermal perception and conditions with public attitudes. • Tree shade was most preferred; women and middle-aged adults had higher cooling needs. • Thermal conditions influenced public support for context-specific cooling strategies. • Thermal acceptability shaped public attitudes toward macro-level cooling strategies. Improving the increasingly severe urban thermal environment depends on environmental policies, and public attitudes toward these policies directly influence governance outcomes. Previous studies have mainly investigated demographic and socio-economic factors. However, research on how thermal conditions and subjective perceptions shape public attitudes toward urban cooling strategies remains scarce. Integrating on-site climatic measurements into questionnaire surveys, this study investigated public attitudes toward urban-cooling strategies in two typical parks in Kobe and Osaka in Japan and analyzed the influence of real-time thermal conditions and perception. The results showed that tree shading was the most preferred cooling measure, with over 70 % approval, while a similar proportion of respondents expressed an urgency for temporary cooling spaces and resilient-city strategies. Middle-aged respondents and women were about 1.5 times more likely than others to support these measures. Higher air temperatures increased support for water facilities, with each 1 °C rise enhancing endorsement likelihood by 52 %, whereas higher humidity reduced support for water-based solutions. Thermal perception indicators, particularly thermal acceptability, had stronger effects than thermal conditions. Greater thermal acceptability was linked to a 16 % lower likelihood of supporting artificial shade, an 11 % lower likelihood of supporting ground-material improvements, and a 12–16 % lower likelihood of perceiving macro-level strategies as urgent. This study demonstrates that public attitudes toward urban cooling strategies are dynamic, shaped by thermal conditions and subjective thermal perception, and offers guidance for prioritizing long-term greening, informing the deployment of temporary interventions, and targeting sensitive groups in urban thermal governance in humid subtropical climates (Köppen Cfa).