The report was undertaken as part of a PhD research, funded by the CRC for Low Carbon Living Ltd. supported by the Cooperative Research Centres program, an Australian Government initiative and a research student scholarship granted from the Australian Building Codes Board. 

Although heatwave-related excess mortality and morbidity have been widely studied, results are not comparable spatially and often longitudinally because of different heatwave definitions applied. The excess heat factor (EHF) quantifies heatwave intensity relative to the local climate, enabling cross-regional comparisons.

During summer heatwaves, heat load exacerbates in urban heat islands (especially in hot climates) and threatens public life in cities. This paper examines the links between urban microclimates, outdoor thermal discomfort and public life through an exploratory case study.

Current and newly built buildings will inevitably experience the effects of climate change, therefore, the design and performance of these buildings should consider weather data that includes some of the effects of climate change, instead of only using historical weather data. However, climate change weather data suitable for buildings performance simulation are typically unavailable.

Smarter urban futures require resilient built environment in the context of climate change. This chapter demonstrates the application of satellite-based surface cover and temperature data to support planning for urban heat resilience. Landsat 7 ETM+ and Landsat 8 data is used to analyse the correlation of urban surface covers to the urban heat island effect in Adelaide.

Building energy performance simulations are limited to typical meteorological weather conditions available in simulation software. Such simulations are insufficient for analysing energy performance sensitivity to a range of probable weather conditions.

Highlights

Outdoor thermal discomfort pushes citizens into air-conditioned buildings and causes increased demand for water and electricity in the majority of Australian urban heat islands. Citizens’ spatial and activity preferences during heat stress conditions are under investigation in this paper.

Highlights

Australian cities are experiencing more heat stress in the 21st century than ever before. Public life in a majority of Australian cities suffer from heat stress in urban heat islands. This paper presents the concept of spatial heat resilience as the capability of the built environment to support outdoor activities during heat stress conditions. Outdoor activities and urban microclimate parameters were observed in selected public spaces of Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Outdoor neutral and critical thermal thresholds are determined.