Urban Airflow in Informal Settlements:

This study explores the impact of ventilation on wind comfort in informal settlements, focusing on human behaviour and adaptation. Unlike formal urban areas, where wind comfort can be improved through architectural modifications, vegetation, and mechanical ventilation, informal settlements lack such interventions, making residents highly dependent on natural airflow. These areas’ unplanned, high-density layout disrupts wind movement, leading to skimming flow—a condition where wind bypasses street level, resulting in stagnant air pockets that trap heat and pollutants. Existing research on wind comfort has primarily focused on computational fluid dynamics (CFD), wind tunnel experiments, and urban microclimate models. However, it lacks an understanding of human responses to these conditions. While studies on thermal comfort examine how people mitigate heat stress, little research exists on behavioural adaptations to poor wind comfort in dense urban settlements. This research aims to bridge that gap by investigating how residents of informal settlements experience and respond to stagnant air conditions. Three informal settlements where the street exhibits a skimming flow are selected. Further, wind temperature, speed, direction, humidity, etc., are collected at 20m intervals. Interviews are conducted with each resident on the street to gather their solutions/ adaptation strategies for the situation. By analysing human adaptation strategies, the study seeks to contribute to climatic resilience strategies for unplanned urban areas. Understanding the interplay between wind comfort and human behaviour will offer new perspectives on designing more breathable, thermally comfortable informal settlements, ultimately improving public health and social interaction in these spaces.