Cooling Common Spaces in Densifying Urban Environments
Current heat mapping has revealed hot spots in Western Sydney with ambient temperatures reaching 50 degrees in summer, while forecast modelling predicts 50-degree summer days potentially becoming a norm by mid-century. There is a pressing need to provide respite during heat waves both in and around the house and in the wider public domain, particularly in common spaces of rest, gathering and transit that span the public and private. This project will review current world best practice on cooling commons spaces. On the basis of this review it will propose design strategies to increase cool comfort and identify implications for urban design and governance. It will produce a pattern book containing visual, narrative and technical examples of cool space in collaboration with Landcom building design professionals and planners involved in the redevelopments in Airds, Claymore, Bonnyrigg, and Macarthur Park. A series of field visits will inventory potential sites where new ways of cooling common spaces might be trailed or introduced.
Researchers: Katherine Gibson(WSU), Emma Power (WSU), Cameron Tonkinwise (UNSW), Abby Mellick Lopes (WSU), Stephen Healy (WSU), Louise Crabtree (WSU).
Funding: Landcom
Period: March 2018 – March 2019
