Subjective thermal comfort and outdoor activity in a park and a square in a satellite city northeast of Tokyo were investigated through structured interviews, observations, and comprehensive micrometeorological measurements. Results showed that the park was on an average 1.1°C cooler than the square. The relatively warmer thermal conditions in the square in comparison to the park resulted in a heat load of greater intensity for humans in the square. In general, there was a low relation between the thermal environment and the use of the two places in terms of total attendance. However, the use of the park was influenced more by the thermal conditions than by the use of the square, which can mainly be attributed to the different functions of the two places. Finally, examples of the differences between the use of the sun, the attitudes toward it, and outdoor exposure in Japan and Sweden are highlighted and discussed.

In recent years, research on landscape perception has been generally overoptimistic about the use of virtual reality (VR); however, few have questioned the validity of VR. It is necessary to examine whether on-site stimulation can be substituted by VR. The purpose of this study was to assess the degree of agreement between on-site survey and VR for landscape perception. The sample included 11 representative landscapes from Tsuchiura city and Tsukuba city, Japan. On-site survey data was collected for 17 items related to aesthetic preference and landscape cognition. The same scenes were produced by VR and same survey data as on-site was collected. The agreement of both the overall mean of all landscapes and the ratings of all individuals in each landscape confirmed the high level of concordance of most cognitive attributes between the two stimuli. The findings support immersive VR as a reliable tool for assessing landscape cognition.