In the context of global climate change, the rising frequency of extreme weather events has increasingly highlighted their impact on human settlements. This study examines the influence of courtyard layout on the wind environment in coastal, traditional villages, focusing on its relevance and importance for enhancing living comfort and preserving cultural heritage. Utilizing data from 204 typical courtyards in Quanzhou City, Fujian Province, China, 18 representative courtyard models were abstracted and analyzed for their winter wind conditions using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. The study findings indicate (1) that an increase in the courtyard area index gradually decreases wind comfort, with the most optimal wind comfort, stability, and adaptability observed in courtyards of 15 m², 15 m², and 110 m². (2) Wind comfort follows a fluctuating pattern as the aspect ratio changes. Courtyards with aspect ratios of 0.8, 1, and 1.2 demonstrate the highest levels of wind comfort, stability, and adjustability. (3) Wind comfort varies in a wave-like manner depending on orientation, with courtyards facing northeast, southeast, and northwest providing superior wind comfort, stability, and adjustability. These findings offer insights into optimizing courtyard designs to enhance environmental quality and promote sustainable living in coastal, traditional villages.

Even though the interaction between plants and the outdoor wind environment has been a focus of interest for scholars from various disciplines in recent years, the relationship between campus outdoor wind comfort and plant configuration in subtropical coastal areas remains poorly understood. Using the outdoor space of a typical subtropical coastal campus (the Donghai Campus of Quanzhou Normal University) as a case study, we explore the connection between plant configuration and outdoor wind comfort. The campus outdoor area is segmented into roads, squares, and courtyards to investigate this relationship. To achieve this goal, a 9-h fixed-point measurement method and the PHOENICS software (2016) were utilized. The following are the findings of the research: (1) Within the realm of trees, the banyan, Bischofia javanica, and kapok species exhibit a notable impact on wind speed reduction, with respective wind reduction ratios of 1.22, 1.31, and 1.29. Notably, among shrubs, waringin stands out with a wind reduction ratio of 1.83. (2) The tree + shrub + grass combination is the most effective method for reducing wind among the three plant facade configurations. Specifically, the combination of Bischofia javanica, waringin, and carpet grass has the best wind reduction effect, with a wind reduction ratio of 2.55. (3) Adding Bischofia javanica, waringin, and grass plants in areas with high wind speeds can effectively improve wind comfort. This provides directions for creating a comfortable wind environment on university campuses situated in subtropical coastal areas.

Enhancing the wind comfort of outdoor enclosed spaces is crucial for improving visitor satisfaction at the Maritime Silk Road World Heritage site, with the arrangement of its facade being the primary factor influencing outdoor wind comfort. This study examines 50 outdoor enclosed spaces at Kaiyuan Temple in Quanzhou, a Maritime Silk Road World Heritage site, as the research object. Through on-site measurements and CFD simulations, the influence of different outdoor enclosed space facade layouts on winter wind comfort is compared and analyzed. Here are the findings of the research: (1) The height-to-cross-section ratios of 0.37, 0.47, and 0.27 correspond to the best wind speed comfort, wind speed stability, and wind regulation amplitude. (2) Enclosure rates of 0.06, 0.42, and 0.42 are linked to the ideal wind speed comfort, wind speed stability, and wind regulation amplitude. (3) Optimal wind speed comfort, wind speed stability, and wind regulation amplitude are related to a permeability of 0.03, 0.59, and 0.03, respectively. The conclusions above can serve as scientific references for enhancing the wind comfort of outdoor enclosed spaces in the Maritime Silk Road World Heritage sites.

Vegetation phenology significantly influences urban microclimate and thermal comfort in cold regions, yet its quantitative impact—specifically the potential of deciduous trees to enhance winter solar access—remains underexplored. This study investigates how seasonal vegetation changes affect thermal conditions in an urban plaza. Field measurements were conducted at Beiyang Plaza, Tianjin University, during the autumn–winter transition. High-precision Sky View Factors (SVF) were extracted from panoramic images using a deep learning-based semantic segmentation model (PSPNet), validated against field observations. The Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) was calculated to assess thermal stress. Results indicate that the leaf-off phase significantly increases SVF, shifting the radiative balance. Areas experiencing phenological changes exhibited a marked improvement in UTCI, effectively alleviating cold stress by maximizing solar gain. Advanced statistical models (ARIMAX and GAM) confirmed that, after controlling for background climatic variations, the positive effect of vegetation phenology on thermal comfort is statistically significant. These findings challenge the traditional focus on summer shading, highlighting the “winter-warming” potential of deciduous trees and providing quantitative evidence for climate-responsive urban design.

Under the global trend of population aging, providing a safe and reliable living environment for the elderly who live at home has become a major social issue. This study reports a monitoring technology for elderly-friendly residential buildings based on distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) and distributed temperature sensing (DTS), which is used to monitor and identify the physical behaviors of residents and temperature changes at different locations in the space. The results show that the distributed acoustic sensing (DAS) system can initially identify typical behavioral states such as walking, squatting, and falling. The fiber DTS technology can not only monitor the temperature distribution at different locations indoors, but also be used for the monitoring and early warning of local fires in different areas of the room. The sensing probes of the monitoring system proposed in this paper are linear optical cables, which have the advantages of easy installation, strong anti-interference ability, intrinsic explosion-proof, less likely to leak residents’ privacy, all-weather operation, precise event location, and low cost for large-scale distributed measurement systems. By integrating the sensing optical cables, fiber signal processing systems, and application software introduced in this paper, an intelligent management and early warning platform for elderly-friendly residential buildings can be established, providing a new solution for remote supervision of the living safety of the elderly.