In its original form, the Equatorial climate, although bearable to its inhabitants, creates conditions characterized by the total lack of comfort. To date, very few specialized studies on the effect of the built environment on the climate of a locality have been made in this particular climatic region. For the most of the time, architects take it for granted that the climatic elements responsible for the creation of comfort conditions never fail to function. Thus, very often we come across buildings which are theoretically well ventilated but, in reality, do not possess the desired characteristics because either there is no wind or the wind is simply too weak to initiate the necessary air movements. The installation of insulation and sun-shading devices do relieve the problem to a certain extent - in the form of reduced heat gains. However, the high cost and the mechanical means required to induced the desired comfort conditions tend to complicate matters. Established design methods based on climatic data issued by the weather bureaus, therefore, are not the answer to solving the problems. The reason for the discrepancies is because the environment in which man actually live is the 'Microclimate', which is the outcome of the action of the larger forces upon the local landscape. It is largely determined by small scale variations in the topographical features of the site; elevation above sea level; exposure to the sun and prevailing winds; size, shape and proximity to water bodies; soil structure; vegetation (trees, shrubs, meadows,crops); and, man-made structures such as buildings, streets, parking lots, etc. Thus, every change made upon the landscape - every building reised, tree cut, or, each street paved - affects the microclimate. These man-made effects, superiposed upon the natural microclimatic variations at an ever increasing rate by the process of urbanization, cause disturbances in the normal thermal cycle of the day. The solution to the whole problem, therefore, does not lie entirely on the design of the individual buildings but rather on a wider scope as to cover the whole locality, usually the whole of the urbanized area, as a step to minimise the differences in the thermal levels of the environment and those desired in the buildings. Therefore, this study is aimed at looking in greater detail into the local microclimatic conditions, its variations and causes, and to explore ways and means by which the thermal living environment in urban areas in the traopics, particurlarly in Peninsular Malaysia, can be improved.