Análise das condições térmicas em praças públicas e sua relação com a população idosa praticantes de exercícios físicos na cidade de João Pessoa/PB

Abstract

A large part of the world population resides in urban areas, generating a series of socioenvironmental impacts. The population increase, without the proper environmental and territorial planning of the urban space, which has provided a disorderly growth of cities with the reduction of green areas and changes in the urban microclimate. Such impacts on environmental systems, have compromised the quality of life of the local population and public health in these areas of strong human pressure and (re) production of the geographical space. The reduction of urban green areas compromises the ecosystem service of climate mitigation in these areas and enhances changes in the urban thermal field with the formation of islands of heat and thermal discomfort. Such changes in the urban thermal field can cause environmental and health problems for elderly people who practice physical exercises in public squares. Therefore, it is in this context that this research presents itself with the main objective of analyzing the thermal comfort conditions of two public squares in the city of João Pessoa / PB. The research also seeks to verify the thermal sensation of the elderly who practice outdoor physical exercises in the investigated environments, their relationship with the Borg Scale and the possible formation of heat islands in these environments. WildlifeRefuge: (Mata do Buraquinho, Praça do Caju and Praça Alcides Carneiro) for monitoring climatological data. Data collection took place through thermohygrometers Hobos U-10 installed in each of the investigated environments. The data were monitored during days representative of the transition period (dry / rainy) of the study area during the month of March. For the calculation of the urban heat island, an experimental point located at the Wildlife Refuge: Mata do Buraquinho was used as a reference point. To understand the thermal sensation of the public participating in the research, a thematic questionnaire on thermal perception and the Thom Index (IDT) was used. The Borg Scale was used to verify the conditions of physical effort and its relationship with the Thermal Comfort Index. The research points out in its results changes in the urban thermal field and the formation of heat islands in the investigated environments that can compromise the health and wellbeing of the elderly who practice physical exercises in the investigated areas. In addition, he stresses that the squares investigated had thermal discomfort throughout the research period, however such emphasized discomfort was not a determining factor for respondents to indicate discomfort before and during physical exercises. Such results can express a physiological adaptation of the elderly to an adverse environment for the practice of physical exercises.