Indoor temperatures in low cost housing in Johannesburg, South Africa

dc.contributor.authorNaicker, Nisha
dc.contributor.authorTeare, June
dc.contributor.authorBalakrishna, Yusentha
dc.contributor.authorWright, Caradee Yael
dc.contributor.authorMathee, Angela
dc.date.accessioned2017-12-06T09:36:41Z
dc.date.available2017-12-06T09:36:41Z
dc.date.issued2017-11-18
dc.description.abstractAmbient and indoor temperature affects thermal comfort and human health. In a changing climate with a predicted change in temperature extremes, understanding indoor temperatures, both hot and cold, of different housing types is important. This study aimed to assess the hourly, daily and monthly variation in indoor temperatures in different housing types, namely formal houses, informal houses, flats, government-built low-cost houses and old, apartheid era low-cost housing, in five impoverished urban communities in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the cross-sectional survey of the Health, Environment and Development study data loggers were installed in 100 homes (20 per suburb) from February to May 2014. Indoor temperature and relative humidity were recorded on an hourly basis. Ambient outdoor temperatures were obtained from the nearest weather station. Indoor and outdoor temperature and relative humidity levels were compared; and an inter-comparison between the different housing types were also made. Apparent temperature was calculated to assess indoor thermal comfort. Data from 59 retrieved loggers showed a significant difference in monthly mean indoor temperature between the five different housing types (p < 0.0001). Low cost government-built houses and informal settlement houses had the greatest variation in temperature and experienced temperatures between 4 and 5 C warmer than outdoor temperatures. Housing types occupied by poor communities experienced indoor temperature fluctuations often greater than that observed for ambient temperatures. Families living in government-built low-cost and informally-constructed homes are the most at risk for indoor temperature extremes. These types of housing should be prioritised for interventions aimed at assisting families to cope with extreme temperatures, gaining optimal thermal comfort and preventing temperature-related health effects.en_ZA
dc.description.departmentGeography, Geoinformatics and Meteorologyen_ZA
dc.description.librarianam2017en_ZA
dc.description.sponsorshipThe South African Medical Research Councilen_ZA
dc.description.urihttp://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerphen_ZA
dc.identifier.citationNaicker, N.,Teare, J., Balakrishna, Y. et al. 2017, 'Indoor temperatures in low cost housing in Johannesburg, South Africa', International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, vol. 14, art. no. 1410, pp. 1-18.en_ZA
dc.identifier.issn1660-4601 (online)
dc.identifier.other10.3390/ijerph14111410
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/2263/63446
dc.language.isoenen_ZA
dc.publisherMDPI Publishingen_ZA
dc.rights© 2017 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.en_ZA
dc.subjectClimate changeen_ZA
dc.subjectEnvironmental healthen_ZA
dc.subjectUrbanen_ZA
dc.subjectHeaten_ZA
dc.subjectColden_ZA
dc.subjectLow cost housingen_ZA
dc.subjectIndoor temperatureen_ZA
dc.subjectAmbient temperatureen_ZA
dc.titleIndoor temperatures in low cost housing in Johannesburg, South Africaen_ZA
dc.typeArticleen_ZA

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