Climate Change Adaptation for Russian Cities: A Case Study of the Thermal Comfort Assessment

The aim of this paper is to discuss the possibility of creating software for the automated assessment of bioclimatic comfort in Russian cities. This research is relevant because 74% of the population in Russia live in cities, and these areas require the development of primarily standardized methods for the assessment of bioclimatic comfort. To select the bioclimatic indices that are suitable for use across the territory of Russia, a critical analysis of the existing and applied bioclimatic indices used in Russia and worldwide was carried out. Based on the results of the analysis, the three most relevant indices were selected, and software was developed for their calculation. Using this software, the evaluation of bioclimatic comfort in 112 large Russian cities (with populations over 100,000) was conducted for 2010–2014, and the results are displayed in map view for cartographical analysis. These results will be the basis for further research on categorizing Russian cities according to their level of thermal comfort and developing climate change adaptation measures.