The Melbourne pedestrian wind criteria (C270) are used in studies for this area. The comfort and safety conditions for these criteria are based on mean wind speeds and 3 second gust speeds, respectively. Summer (November to April) and winter (May to October) seasons are adopted in the wind comfort analysis, with the nightly hours (0:00 and 5:00) excluded from the wind analysis for comfort because of the limited usage of outdoor spaces during the night. A seasonal exceedance of 20% of the time is considered for the mean wind speeds using the filtered meteorological data set, while an annual exceedance of 0.1% of the time (9 hours per year) is used for the gust speeds for 24 hours a day. Only gust speeds need to be considered in the wind safety criterion, these are rare events which deserve special attention in city planning and building design due to their potential safety impact on pedestrians.
It should be noted that the wind comfort criteria represent an average wind tolerance and can be subjective in a way that regional differences in wind climate and thermal conditions as well as variations in age, health, clothing, etc. can affect a person’s perception of the wind climate. Therefore, comparisons of wind speeds for different site and surrounding configurations is the most objective way in assessing the local pedestrian wind conditions. Table below summarizes the Melbourne pedestrian wind criteria (C270):
| Comfort Category | Mean Wind Speed (m/s) |
| Comfortable for Sitting | ≤ 3 |
| Comfortable for Standing | 3-4 |
| Comfortable for Walking | 4-5 |
| Uncomfortable | > 5 |
| Safety Criterion | 3 Second Gust Speed (m/s) |
| Exceeded | > 20 |
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