Posts tagged ‘Urban heat island’
Vote for our Drinking water Fountains in Shopping Strips Community Submission to Merri-bek Council capital works 2023/24
We have made a submission for Merri-bek Council Community Budget engagement focussed on provision of public drinking water fountains in Merri-bek’s shopping centres. It is one of 26 projects that is being put to the community to vote up. People have 3 votes to allocate among the projects. Voting closes 12 March 2023 at 11.59pm. Merri-bek Community Budget submission projects
Last year Merribek Council opened up for community submission projects for the 2022/23 Capital Works program, setting aside a limited portion of funds for the projects voted up by the community.
We have provided some essential background reading in this blog on our interactions with Council on campaigning for more public water fountains, since a Council Resolution initially raised the issue in 2014. This is a small but important piece of climate adaptation to public infrastructure to meet the challenge of staying healthy and hydrated as temperatures warm due to climate change and we experience more extreme heat days and heatwaves in our urban environment.
(more…)Addressing urban heat and burn risk in Playgrounds
“Unshaded synthetic turf is not a safe material to use in playgrounds in hot climates”, claim urban heat researchers based in Sydney in a new peer reviewed study.
Public playgrounds are important for our children to play and exercise. Increasing temperatures with climate change poses a health risk and, in particular, a burn risk to children due to surfaces heating up during hot weather, according to new research.
Researchers Sebastian Pfautsch, Agnieszka Wujeska-Klause, Judi Walters based in University of Western Sydney released the peer reviewed study: Outdoor playgrounds and climate change: Importance of surface materials and shade to extend play time and prevent burn injuries, published in the September 2022 issue of Building and Environment.
The research focussed on impact of urban heat on playground surfaces, and potential for burn injuries. Synthetic turf and other rubber/plastic surfaces were considered as part of this research. It has implications for urban heat of synthetic turf and other rubber and plastics surfaces and prevention of burn injuries, especially to children. This research should also help to inform Moreland Council investigation into Making Sports Playing surfaces sustainable.
(more…)September 2, 2022 at 11:29 pm morelandclimategroup Leave a comment
In the depth of winter an urban heat campaign on Fake Grass launches for Victoria
With an overcast sky and temperatures barely in the double digits a small crowd gathered beside the synthetic grass pitch at Clifton Park in Brunswick. This was the launch of the Campaign to Turf out Fake Grass in Victoria.
Climate NGO Sweltering Cities, which focusses on urban heat and solutions to mitigating and adapting to increasing urban heat, had initiated this campaign as a result of several meetings with residents in suburban Melbourne and a large heat survey that was conducted over the summer.
Sign the petition to Turf out Fake Grass addressed to Victorian Minister for Suburban Development Shaun Leane.
(more…)Moderating the urban heat of car parks in Moreland
As a highly built up municipality Moreland tends feel the heat of Summer and extreme heat events exacerbated by the urban heat island effect. The extensive car parks and roads around our municipality contribute to this amplification of high temperature effects.
New research from University of Western Sydney throws new light on the urban heat island effect on microclimates and especially the role of asphalt car parks. Asphalt is particularly bad for building up heat inertia to warm the micro climate during both the day and night. But the researchers also outlined solutions.
How does this apply in Moreland? Well Moreland Council should be implementing heat mitigation solutions for all Council car parks, and also advocating for these solutions when Businesses provide parking, or the State Government expands parking, such as at Merlynston Station. Moreland Council is expanding parking at Hosken Reserve as part of the Hosken Reserve Masterplan, but have paid little attention to limiting urban heat from car parking. When putting in new car parking is the ideal time to implement urban heat solutions.
(more…)Commuter car park upgrade at Merlynston
safety hazards for pedestrians and cyclists
On 6th September Climate Action Moreland submitted the following submission to the Level Crossing Removal Authority on the development upgrade proposal for the Commuter car park at Merlynston station . We know that many North Coburg Residents and other community groups also put in submissions. We have heard and had no further community engagement with LXRP.
Here is our submissions sent 6 September 2021.
(more…)How will Synthetic turf impact urban heat island and microclimate around Hosken Reserve?
Synthetic turf surface temp heat profile compared to natural grass (Hong Kong) – Alm 2016
Adding a synthetic pitch to Hosken Reserve will increase the Urban Heat Island Effect (UHIE), reduce the Cool Park effect, and be felt mostly strongly by local residents. Artificial turf elevated temperatures will affect playability and heat stress to players, and not only in Summer but also for warm days in both Spring and Autumn when the temperature is elevated. Our Melbourne summers are getting longer.
For the most part it is local residents that would need to live with this permanent impact on increased microclimate temperatures over summer months and during warmer days in Spring and Autumn. Urban Heat island effect is more prominent during the night than during the day. This will likely increase evening energy use from air conditioners of local residents which will have a feedback of putting more heat back into the local environment.
Our temperature research at Hosken Reserve natural grass oval and Clifton Park synthetic pitch shows on a warm day (around 30C as per BOM records) the surface temperatures on the synthetic pitch are regularly 80-90 percent greater than natural grass, and may on occasion reach double the temperature of grass.
Moreland’s heat vulnerability is already at a high level, synthetic turf will contribute more heat when we need to be trying to cool our suburbs through green infrastructure. Moreland Council needs to find cooling solutions not exacerbate the problem with converting a much loved community shared grass oval to a fenced synthetic pitch.
Climate Action Moreland has had an interest for several years in urban heat island effect and how it is magnified by the rising temperatures of climate change and urban densification and development. This post draws upon past literature reviews and a recent science literature survey associated with artificial surfaces and the urban heat island effect that formed part of our submission on the Hosken Refresh consultation.
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Cooling the Upfield Corridor – Moreland Council adopts plan mitigating Urban heat
Cooling the Upfield Corridor UHIE heatmap
Moreland Council has adopted the Cooling the Upfield Corridor Action Plan 2018-2019.
It is not nearly enough to cut emissions and have a zero community emissions by 2040 target, we also need to look at climate adaptation in our highly built up urban environment. This too is part of a climate emergency response framework.
The urban heat island effect amplifies temperatures due to the urban built infrastructure and surfaces such as roads and carparks. Our Municipality is especially vulnerable to the urban heat island effect.
In coming decades Melbourne is likely to experience 50 degrees days according to researchers at the ANU, even if we limit global temperatures to 2 degrees or the much more ambituous 1.5 degrees target.
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Moreland Council receives grant for mitigating the Urban Heat Island effect
Moreland’s social heat vulnerability
Moreland Council has received $80,000 grant funding from the Victorian Government on a project to minimise the impact of the Urban Heat Island Effect on vulnerable social housing residents.
The urban heat island effect results when urban surfaces heat up much faster than rural land. With temperatures climbing due to climate change and more extreme heat events predicted, the urban heat island effect will magnify the heat health impacts on the population, especially more vulnerable people like the young, the old, outside workers and those with medical conditions.
The grant funding was part of $1.15 million to support Council driven projects across Victoria in mitigation and adaptation to climate change.
The funding will assist the Council’s Urban Heat Island Strategy that is presently in draft mode about to go to Council for consideration for formal adoption at Council’s June 2016 meeting.
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Consultation on Urban Heat Island effect Action Plan in Moreland
Moreland UHI Thermal imaging 14 January 2014 10am
Moreland Council have been working on developing a policy on mitigating the urban heat island effect. This is when temperatures warm up much more in urban areas due to all the buildings and roads, than rural areas. Climate change is causing temperatures to rise, and also causing earlier and more intense heat waves to occurr. Climate change also amplifies the urban heat island effect.
Moderation of urban heat island effect temperatures by even a few degrees can reduce substantial health impacts and improve comfort for residents in extreme heat conditions. Every year hundreds of ambulance callouts are made for people suffering heat related medical conditions. More people die during extreme heat events than for any other disaster, including bushfires. A 2014 report found that Melbourne, of all Australia’s cities, had the highest annual average number of heat-related deaths, with about 200 a year, according to the Age.
Research has shown that Moreland has a high social vulnerability index to extreme heat already, based upon demographic and social factors.
Moreland Council is conducting a community consultation in regard to the draft Urban Heat Island effect action plan on Tuesday 22 March 2016, 6 pm – 8 pm at Coburg Town Hall foyer, 90 Bell Street, Coburg. You can Register your attendance and download and read the draft plan. The draft action plan was approved for community consultation at Council’s February 2016 meeting with the intention of formal presentation of the final draft in April 2016 followed by formal endorsement in June 2016.
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Moreland increasing tree canopy to combat Urban Heat island Effect
Moreland Council at it’s September 2014 Council meeting adopted a report on increasing vegetation tree canopy and resolved “to support and fund current initiatives aligned with the management of climate change and the Urban Heat Island Effect.”
The Council report – DCI70/14 REVIEW OF TREE COVER IN MORELAND AND HEAT ISLAND EFFECT (D14/225415) (full text below) – was prepared for the Director of City Infrastructure as a result of a motion by Cr Davidson (full text below) at the July council meeting. It outlines that Council will plant 5,000 trees annually as part of the Moreland Street Landscape Strategy (see Street Trees on Council Website) with the biggest tree suited to an area to be planted to increase canopy coverage. The goal is to plant 30,000 trees across the municipality by 2020.
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Climate Action Merribek: people in Brunswick, Coburg, Fawkner and Glenroy wanting action on climate change 