Cooling common spaces in densifying urban environments: A review of best practice and guide for Western Sydney renewal

Citation

Mellick Lopes A, Arora V, Healy S, Power E, Armstrong H, Crabtree L, Gibson K & Tonkinwise C (2020) Cooling common spaces in densifying urban environments: A review of best practice and guide for Western Sydney renewal. Landcom. Sydney, Australia. https://apo.org.au/node/311804

Abstract
Planning and developing healthy and inclusive neighbourhoods to accommodate rapid population growth is critically important. However, new environmental and social conditions demand innovation in planning and design processes, and new sensitivities in relation to what people want and need from their neighbourhoods in the much warmer Sydney of the future. While climate-controlled environments are an important part of the picture, the challenge is to design shared urban environments that facilitate comfortable mobility and sociality. From our perspective, these qualities are what make living in a city worthwhile. Learning from international examples of what has worked well in practice, we identify key design patterns that improve how communities can live in a hot city. Our context is the commons – those spaces, practices, resources and knowledges shared by a community, and that a community depends on for a sense of cohesiveness and well-being. It is on the quality of the commons that perceptions of liveability across environmental quality, social connectedness, accessibility and safety, often stand or fall.

Keywords
climate change; urban; commons