Next-Generation Indoor and Outdoor Thermal Comfort in a Changing Climate
A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Biometeorology and Bioclimatology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 23
Special Issue Editors
Interests: human-centric indoor thermal comfort; integration of psychological and behavioral factors into comfort modeling; mood-adaptive HVAC control; building energy efficiency; personalized thermal comfort systems; bio-signal-based thermal perception analysis; adaptive and data-driven comfort models
Interests: energy efficiency in buildings; nearly zero energy buildings; solar energy applications in buildings; trombe walls; thermal storage materials; photovoltaic thermal systems
Interests: natural ventilation; heat transfer in buildings; instrumentation; urban heat island; occupant behavior; comfort control; biomimetics
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Thermal comfort is a fundamental aspect of human well-being in both indoor and outdoor environments, yet climate change, urbanization, and evolving building technologies increasingly reshape how individuals experience thermal conditions. This Special Issue, titled “Next-Generation Indoor and Outdoor Thermal Comfort in a Changing Climate,” aims to gather cutting-edge and interdisciplinary research that advances our understanding of human–environment interactions across diverse climatic, architectural, and urban settings. We particularly encourage studies that integrate indoor and outdoor perspectives, incorporate human-centered and psychological factors, and introduce innovative methods for measuring, modeling, and predicting thermal sensation.
Emerging developments, such as adaptive comfort models, bio-sensing technologies, mood- or behavior-aware HVAC control, personalized comfort systems, and data-driven or AI-enhanced analysis, offer promising pathways to improve comfort while reducing energy use in buildings and cities. Similarly, outdoor thermal comfort research, including urban microclimate modeling, nature-based solutions, and climate-responsive design strategies, plays a vital role in enhancing public space usability and resilience.
For this Special Issue, we welcome interdisciplinary contributions from building science, biometeorology, environmental psychology, architecture, urban climate, energy engineering, and related fields. A central objective is to promote methodologically rigorous research on thermal comfort. We explicitly encourage contributions grounded in field measurements, controlled experiments, experimental validation, model calibration, and robust data analysis. Studies employing data-driven, machine learning, or AI-based approaches are also welcome, provided that model transparency, validation against measured data, uncertainty analysis, and robustness are clearly demonstrated. Experimental studies, field investigations, modeling efforts, interdisciplinary frameworks, and comprehensive reviews are all invited. Our goal is to promote next-generation approaches that support healthier, adaptive, and energy-efficient built environments.
Dr. Cihan Turhan
Dr. Canan Kandilli
Dr. Miguel Chen Austin
Dr. Samar Thapa
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- indoor thermal comfort
- outdoor thermal comfort
- human-centric HVAC systems
- climate-responsive building and city designs
- psychological and behavioral factors in thermal sensation
- urban microclimate
- thermal environment monitoring
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