Planning for outdoors thermal comfort in hot-humid cities should ideally allow the flow of air and protect outdoor activities from strong sun. While some urban geometric configurations would be conducive to either of the two requirements, others would be conducive to a balance of both. Planning would therefore involve making choices between various configurations. While general literature recommends that hot humid cities should be planned to allow airflow, it does not show that this is guided by a complete quantitative understanding of what is more beneficial between shade and wind.

Concentrating on their influence on outdoor air temperature, wind and direct radiation have been investigated by fieldwork studies and mathematical modelling. Simultaneous analysis of both has been done to establish their quantitative relationships with the different geometric features of urban outdoor spaces. Relative indicators from the study have been used to suggest some operational criteria for the planning and design of outdoors urban spaces.