Overheating of cities is causing serious energy, environmental and health problems and it has a serious impact on the whole economic and cultural life of cities. To counterbalance the impact of high urban temperatures several mitigation technologies have been proposed, developed and implemented.

Landscape architecture focuses on the relationship between the natural and the built environment.  As we move towards an uncertain future, our methods for understanding that relationship must shift from reliance on what we know about our environment, to what we can anticipate for the future.

We're aiming to increase Greater Sydney's tree canopy to 40% by 2030 by planting more trees in streets, parks, bushland areas and yards.
That’s more trees in our streets, parks, backyards, neighbourhoods and schools, so we can grow our tree canopy from 16.8%* to 40% (*source Office of Environment and Heritage, 2011).

Despite the importance of urban trees, their growth reaction to climate change and to the urban heat island effect has not yet been investigated with an international scope. While we are well informed about forest growth under recent conditions, it is unclear if this knowledge can be simply transferred to urban environments.

Urban areas are usually warmer than their rural surroundings, a phenomenon known as the “heat island effect.” As cities develop, more vegetation is lost and more surfaces are paved or covered with build­ings. The change in ground cover results in less shade and moisture to keep urban areas cool.

Across the world, the role and functionality of urban water utilities has evolved over time, in response to urban challenges.

Sustainable Sydney 2030 outlined the aspiration of our community and businesses for our local government area to be an environmental leader on a global scale. To guide the implementation of Sustainable Sydney 2030, the City developed a series of environmental master plans and strategies between 2008 and 2015. This strategy and action plan combines the insights and data from these documents.

Cooling Western Sydney is a Sydney Water study on the role of water and other technologies in mitigating urban heat in western Sydney.

Water's role in liveability: Heat, Waterways and Urban Amenity

The implementation of ‘cool’ roofing materials, with high solar reflectance and infrared emittance, has received significant attention in recent years, as a method to mitigate the urban heat island effect and reduce building cooling energy requirements. The effect of ‘cool’ roofs on heat transfer through the roof structure has been investigated by many researchers.

Despite the current evidence on the thermal benefits of vegetation and water bodies, further research is needed to investigate how cooling capacities are influenced by particular types, amounts, and spatial arrangements of green infrastructure (GI). However, there are no commonly agreed typologies that can be confidently used to compare and report the existing climatological effects of GI.

There is ample evidence of the cooling effects of green infrastructure (GI) that has been extensively documented in the literature. However, the study of the thermal profiles of different GI typologies requires the classification of urban sites for a meaningful comparison of results, since specific spatial and physical characteristics produce distinct microclimates.