Abstracts Category : Other

Design, context and use of public space: the influence of heat on everyday behaviour in outdoor settings - a Western Sydney case study.

by Louise McKenzie

This study explores the influence of heat on everyday behaviour and thermal comfort in outdoor public space. Healthy city initiatives recognise that public space is vital to promoting physical activity and social interaction. In a warming climate, however, few studies explore the influence of hot weather and heatwaves on everyday public space use and the implications for creating health-supportive cities. Urban heat is a major health challenge exacerbated by climate change. For Sydney, heat-related deaths are projected to double by 2100 assuming no adaptation. In the main, studies investigating heat-health impacts focus on mortality reflecting only extremes. Yet, heat also impacts significantly on morbidity and peoples ability to be active outdoors. As those most vulnerable to heat include the elderly and those suffering chronic ill-health, increasing levels of chronic disease and ageing populations will increase the health impacts of heat. The complexities of real-life outdoor public spaces present barriers to thermal comfort research. As a result, few studies have been conducted and little guidance exists for those researching in this domain. For professionals designing and planning public spaces for hot urban environments, practical knowledge is also scant. Underscored by a comprehensive multi-disciplinary literature evaluation, my research seeks to address this gap.The aims of this thesis are twofold. First is to develop a cross-disciplinary research design for examining the influence of heat on everyday behaviour and thermal comfort in real-life outdoor public spaces. Second is to contribute to the development of health-supportive public space in warming urban climates. Using a six year fieldwork program, comprising meteorological measurements, behavioural mapping and infrared photography of thermal emissivity, I undertook detailed investigations of the use of a metropolitan park and its neighbourhood in a disadvantaged suburb of Sydney. Contextual analyses and an older persons focus group augmented the fieldwork. Informed by urban climatology and public health, the results provide a research framework for examining heat which builds upon a standard landscape architecture approach. This study delivers essential practitioner knowledge for heat-related behavioural shifts, comfort choice and microclimatic design, as well as priorities to assist older people and disadvantaged communities adapt to a warming climate.Advisors/Committee Members: Thompson, Susan, City Futures Research Centre, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW, Samuels, Robert, City Futures Research Centre, Faculty of Built Environment, UNSW.