Assessing the effects of different urban landscapes and built environment patterns on thermal comfort and air pollution in Erzurum city, Turkey

Urban environmental issues have a negative impact on urban quality of life in cities. Erzurum city is a very special place in the world because it has a very high altitude, harsh, long winter period, and high air pollution that affects the human thermal comfort sensation and the quality of life negatively. The purpose of this research is to assess the effects of different landscapes and built environmental patterns on thermal comfort and air pollution. The urban microclimate factors were recorded by field measurement weather stations and the air pollution data was collected from Turkish government monitoring stations. The thermal comfort was evaluated by the Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET°C) index. The results show that there is an extreme variation in the city's climate during the year. In August, the maximum temperature is 33.0 °C and the maximum average temperature is 23.0 °C, while in December the lowest temperature is −35.0 °C and the maximum average temperature is −11.4 °C. At the Ata Botanical Garden (wooded area) and in rural open areas, the temperature is 13.0 °C lower in the summer and 10.0 °C–15.0 °C lower in the winter than in urban areas. The highest average values (PET°C) were found in the city center (11.2 °C) and wooded areas (10.0 °C), while the lowest average values of PET were found in the open rural area (4.7 °C) in both seasons. Seasonal wetland (7.1 °C) and industrial (9.6 °C) areas experienced moderate thermal comfort. The Taşhan area, located near the city center and surrounded by an industrial zone, is the most polluted in the city. The statistical analysis shows that there is a significant correlation between the Ozone (O3) and the PET °C values, with R2 = 0.47 in this area. The wooded areas were found to be advantageous in raising thermal comfort and lowering air pollution.