This study explored subjective responses towards various environmental quality parameters. It would be helpful to approach an overall comfort improvement relating to physics. In order to investigate the combined effects of sound, light and heat on the overall comfort of pedestrians, which could be evaluated by overall comfort vote, two residential areas in Yubei District, Chongqing (a Cfa city in China) were selected for field measurements and questionnaires. Three were three key findings were concluded based on subjective responses to environmental parameters via multiple linear regression. First, the average outdoor neutral temperature, mean neutral sound level and neutral illumination intensity were determined to be 26.6 °C (determined by physiologically equivalent temperature), 56.5 dBA (determined by A-weighted equivalent continuous sound level) and 21.4 klx (determined by LUX), respectively. Second, considering the effects of both physiology and psychology, thermal perceptions varied for acoustic and light environments. Residents partially had lower neutral temperatures at the noisy condition. Third, environmental quality factors had a significant effect on overall comfort. Positive correlation between physiologically equivalent temperature and overall comfort vote was found (sig < 0.000); while the effects of sound pressure and light intensity were not always significant. Hence, thermal stress played a significant role in people’s overall comfort. This study has explored the effects of three environment quality parameters on human perceptions. It provided better understanding against dwellers’ feelings under complex circumstances. Future urban design and planning works should consider the cooling factors regarding contextual acoustical and visual environments.

Elevated temperatures in urban centers have become a common problem in cities around the world. However, the climate problems in suburban areas are equally severe; there is an urgent need to find zero-carbon ways to mitigate this problem. Recent studies have revealed the thermal performance of vegetation, buildings, and water surfaces. They functioned differently regarding the climate at different periods of the day. Accordingly, this study synthesizes remote sensing technology and meteorology station observation data to deeply explore the differences in the role of each climate-influencing factor in the suburban areas of Chengdu. The land surface temperature (LST) and air temperature (T_a) were used as thermal environmental indicators, while the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), normalized difference water index (NDWI), normalized difference built-up index (NDBI), and altitude were used as environmental factors. The results showed that the relevant influences of the environmental factors on the climate in the sample areas were significantly affected by the time of the day. The NDVI (R² = 0.5884), NDBI (R² = 0.3012), and altitude (R² = 0.5638) all showed strong correlations with T_a during the night (20:00–7:00), which gradually weakened after sunrise, yet the NDWI showed a poorer cooling effect during the night, which gradually strengthened after sunrise, reaching a maximum at 15:00 (R² = 0.5012). One reason for this phenomenon was the daily weather changes. These findings facilitate the advancement of the understanding of the climate in suburban areas and provide clear directions for further thermal services targeted towards people in different urban areas.