Thermal comfort in urban open and semi-open spaces results from the interaction between environmental conditions and users’ physiological and perceptual responses. However, common thermal comfort indices, which rely on quantifying the human body and standardized assumptions about clothing and metabolism, pay limited attention to the role of climatic–cultural contexts and collective lived experience in shaping thermal perception. In reality, thermal experience in such environments is not determined solely by physical conditions; factors such as thermal sensation, heat and cold stress, seasonal memory, behavioral adaptation, social norms, and the cultural meanings of place also influence it. This study focuses on the historical bazaar of Naqsh‑e Jahan Square in Isfahan and introduces the concept of “collective sympathetic thermal perception” to explain context‑dependent thermal perception and shared thermal experience.
The research employed a mixed‑methods approach with a descriptive phenomenological perspective. Field data were collected from 100 bazaar occupants during the summer and winter of 2024 using semi‑structured questionnaires, 30 in‑depth interviews, and environmental measurements. Data were analyzed using Colaizzi’s phenomenological method and descriptive statistics in SPSS. Results indicate a three‑layer model including thermal human‑centricity, sensory correlation, and lived experience.