Influence of Local Microclimate Conditions on Indoor Thermal Comfort: The Example of Historical Urban Structure Located in the Central Part of Lodz (Poland)

Progressive climate change and building morphology influence the specific microclimate of built-up areas. This has a fundamental role in research on energy use and thermal comfort inside buildings. Most studies using data for dynamic energy simulation are based on information collected at meteorological stations in rural areas. This can lead to erroneous predictions. The main goal of the study was to combine two simulation tools—ENVI-met for microclimate predictions around historical building layouts, and DesignBuilder for assessing indoor comfort. Illustrating the impact of input data on simulation results was conducted using three types of weather data: (1) from a field campaign, (2) from a suburban station, and (3) from the typical meteorological year. The obtained results confirm that the highest precision was achieved in analyses where information obtained at a real scale in the city centre was used as boundary conditions (field measurements: MAPE = 0.6 °C, RMSE = 0.7 °C). The next step was to estimate the thermal sensations inside the living room of the existing residential building. Thermal comfort was determined using the operative temperature as an indicator. Incorporating realistic urban weather inputs enhanced the reliability of indoor comfort modelling and provided a more accurate basis for planning thermal resilience in historic residential buildings.