Wind is one of the environmental conditions that can affect people's perception of comfort. Pedestrian comfort can be very important in areas where people are expected to spend time, such as shopping areas, because if potential users perceive discomfort, they will avoid such areas.

Sometimes certain building configurations or other architectural elements can create particularly unfavorable wind conditions in their surroundings. For example, building corners, particularly high building entrances or narrow streets can be points where wind conditions are particularly unfavorable.

The IDR/UPM has several systems for assessing pedestrian comfort and wind conditions at different locations. On the one hand, hot-wire anemometry allows the measurement of wind conditions with high temporal resolution. Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) allows simultaneous velocity measurements at multiple points in space. Finally, Irwin probes allow velocity to be estimated from differential pressure measurements at heights very close to the ground.