Benchmarking Heat Across Cumberland Council, New South Wales

Air temperature in complex urban terrain can vary. While roads and buildings can lead to higher temperatures in urban landscapes, trees and other green urban infrastructure can provide cooling. Here, we report on microclimatic variation across the LGA of Cumberland Council, New South Wales. During the summer of 2018/19, more than 1.4 million individual measurements of air temperature were recorded at 97 locations in and around the LGA. These data were used to: (1) generate the first microclimate maps for Cumberland Council, (2) assess the spatio-temporal dynamics of heatwaves in the area and (3) develop a ranking matrix for the microclimate under street trees. An additional 104,000 measurements of air temperature were recorded at nine locations in the LGA of Bayside to contrast summer heat between coastal and landlocked suburbs in the Greater Sydney Basin. Our data analyses revealed that across the LGA hot and extreme air temperatures occurred more frequently (i.e. 41 days >35°C, 19 days >40°C) compared to a nearby official weather station (i.e. 10 days >35°C, 1 day >40°C). Thus, communities living in Cumberland Council are experiencing extreme heat more frequently than previously known. Summer daytime temperatures, and particularly those measured during heatwaves, were significantly lower across the coastal LGA of the City of Bayside compared to Cumberland. Due to pronounced cooling during the evening, however, mean nighttime temperatures were lower at Cumberland Council LGA. This new understanding of heat across the LGA of Cumberland Council is based on empirical evidence, making results pertinent and applicable. Analyses provided here offer real-world information to better plan, prepare and respond to increasing urban heat in the future

Benchmarking Tree Canopy in Sydney's Hot Schools

This project identified the 100 most vulnerable schools to heat in Greater Western Sydney using a newly developed Heat Score. The Heat Score combines socio-economic information that captures exposure, sensitivity and adaptivity of local communities to heat with environmental data related to surface and air temperatures of urban space. Following the identification of the 100 schools, high-resolution aerial imagery was used to remotely measure a range of attributes at each school. These attributes included the area covered by buildings and open space, as well as the area of tree canopy cover and manmade shade structures. We determined the size of close to 5,000 individual objects to establish a benchmark of shade in Sydney’s hot schools. Key findings: » Mean area covered by the 100 schools is 23,000 m². » On average 18% of that area is shaded » Tree canopy cover makes up the majority (15%) of the shaded area. » Tree canopy cover increases with the area covered by a school. » Public schools tend to cover larger areas and thus have more tree canopy cover compared to Catholic and independent schools. » Urban Heat Island effects were reduced when the area of shade was increased. Additional tree plantings will provide microclimatic benefits. However, the present study reveals that a dual approach is necessary to increase canopy cover among the target schools that differentiates between needs and opportunities. Catholic and independent schools have the highest need for additional tree canopy cover as their current cover is low. These schools tend to have less open space available for plantings. Successful strategies will require establishing low numbers of carefully selected trees at strategic planting locations to deliver the greatest local shading and cooling benefits. Public schools offer the greatest opportunities for mass planting of additional trees as they have large areas of open space available. Planting sizeable clusters of trees will provide the greatest cooling benefits not only for the school but generate microclimate and environmental benefits for the surrounding communities. Analyses provided in this report will assist the development of the most effective tree planting strategies for each of Sydney’s 100 hot schools

School Microclimates

Outdoor school environments need to be safe, stimulate physical and cognitive development of children and encourage learning. These key requirements are jeopardised by increasing summer heat. Summer heat limits outdoor activities and has adverse effects on physical wellbeing of school children and teachers. Children are particularly vulnerable to heat as they regulate their core temperature through convection, which becomes less effective when it is hot. Based on empirical data collections, this report provides more than 20 practical recommendations on how to reduce the impacts of outdoor heat. Although these recommendations were devised based on work around a public school in Western Sydney, their universal character allows applying them to any school or other urban build infrastructure. Avoiding the use of artificial grass in unshaded spaces, shading black asphalt, allowing natural air flows and using shade materials with highly reflective upper surfaces should be fundamental principles in design and building guidelines for heat-smart schools

Benchmarking Heat Across Campbelltown City, New South Wales

The compounding effects of climate change and rapid urbanisation cause cities to heat up. Metropolitan Sydney is no exception to this trend. Today, the communities of Campbelltown City in the southern region of the Greater Sydney Basin already experience extreme summer temperatures and heatwave conditions on an annual basis. Climate predictions point toward amplification of summer heat. Already today these conditions represent a serious threat to the quality of life, public health and economic prosperity in the region. Near-surface air temperature in complex urban terrain can vary. A large proportion of this variation originates from differences in thermal characteristics of materials that together make up the terrain. While roads and buildings can lead to higher temperatures in urban landscapes, trees and other green urban infrastructure can provide cooling. Hence, depending on the kind, make and proportion of urban infrastructure types (e.g. grey, green, blue), air temperatures will vary. Until now, the magnitude of air temperature variation among suburbs within the Campbelltown City Local Government Area (LGA) remained unknown

Benchmarking urban heat: Individual air temperature measurements recorded in Campbelltown, Cumberland, and Parramatta local government areas during the summer of 2018-2019

During the summer of 2018-2019, millions of individual measurements of air temperature were recorded at various locations in and around the Local Government Areas of Campbelltown, Cumberland, and Parramatta Councils. This dataset provides measurement locations, physical address, geographic location, and species, height and canopy density of trees at each location. Note, locations are listed according to council area and suburb. Where available, temperature data represent mean and absolute maximum and minimum values measured at each location. The three associated research reports include detailed methodology, analysis of results, and the heat maps generated for each area, as well as conclusions and recommendations

Benchmarking Heat in Parramatta, Sydney's Central River City

The compounding effects of climate change and rapid urbanisation cause cities to heat up. The City of Parramatta in the central region of the Greater Sydney Basin already experiences extreme summer temperatures and heatwave conditions on an annual basis. This report describes microclimate across the City of Parramatta Local Government Area. Air temperatures were measured at more than 140 locations during the summer of 2018/19. Data analyses revealed that (1) communities of the City of Parramatta are exposed to more extreme heat (>40°C) than previously known, (2) southern and south-western suburbs experience higher air temperatures compared to north-eastern suburbs and (3) large differences in cooling capacity exist among urban tree species

Benchmarking Summer Heat Across Penrith, New South Wales

This report documents variation of summer temperatures across the Local Government Area of Penrith in Western Sydney. Between 14 December 2019 and 31 March 2020, more than 1.4 million measurements of air temperatures were collected using 120 data loggers. The network of data loggers covered the entire Local Government Area from Emu Plains in the west to St Marys in the east and Agnes Banks in the north to Badgerys Creek in the south. Analyses of these data revealed that local populations of Penrith experienced air temperatures of more than 50°C during three individual days.Throughout the summer of 2019/20, Emu Plains was the warmest and Mulgoa the coolest suburb. Nighttime air temperatures were higher in suburbs with high cover of hard surfaces compared to those where open surfaces dominated, demonstrating clear Urban Heat Island Effects in the area. An Urban Heat Island was also detected for the town of St Marys, where the urban core remained up to 2.4°C warmer during the night compared to the surrounding residential neighbourhoods. A wide rage of temperature analyses provide a nuanced picture of how summer heat is impacting this important city in Western Sydney. A total of 12 clear recommendations developed with the help of the empirical work

Estimating Transport Disadvantage and Unmet Transport Need: Methodological Options: Final Report

Transport disadvantage is a critical social issue and a key contributing factor to social exclusion (Hayes et al., 2008). Specifically, transport disadvantage refers to situations where an individual or household’s participation in the economic, social and political life of the community is restricted or inhibited by inability to access private or public transport (Kenyon et al., 2003). Responding to a request from Transport for NSW, Western Sydney Community Forum (WSCF) collaborated with the Urban Research Centre at UWS to develop robust methodologies for estimating transport disadvantage and unmet needs in Western Sydney. A small team of researchers at UWS including experts in urban planning, social policy, statistical modelling and Geographic Information Systems, was assisted by a Reference Group assembled by WSCF which included representatives of Transport for NSW, Community Transport providers, Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, NSW Council of Social Service, and other academic expertise. This report presents the methodologies as well the literature, analyses and rationale that underpins them. In developing these methodologies existing client and occasion of service data from two large Community Transport providers based in Western Sydney were closely analysed and compared to general population. The CT data were mapped using GIS

Mapping Culture: Venues & Infrastructure in the City of Sydney

This report was commissioned to assist the City of Sydney in developing a greater knowledge of its cultural infrastructure through a process of classification and mapping of the City’s cultural venues. Its multi-layered database assists with the design of the most appropriate and effective policies to enhance the cultural and creative life of the City. The report provides: An explanation of the concept of culture that has been operationalised; A detailed rationale of the cultural classification framework adopted; An elaboration of the key methodological issues addressed in the collation of a consolidated database of cultural venues and infrastructure in the City, and the mapping technologies deployed; A presentation and discussion of a series of maps concerning the location and distribution of 3,106 cultural venues that were mapped and broken down into spatial, cultural industry, and venue types; A presentation and discussion of a series of maps concerning the location and distribution of 3,106 cultural venues that were mapped and broken down intospatial, cultural industry, and venue types; A series of recommendations and suggestions for future cultural mapping and other research, addressed directly in terms of the City of Sydney’s Cultural Policy and Action Plan; A major information set consisting of references, cultural mapping website examples, coding information, the crowdsourcing survey, and data sources enables additional avenues of inquiry to be pursued