URBAN COMFORT:
A PRIORITY FOR ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGE, INCREASING
DENSITIES AND INFILL DEVELOPMENT
Dr Silvia Tavares, Lecturer in Urban Design and Town Planning
Dr Nicholas Stevens, Senior Lecturer in Urban Design and Town Planning
BASCLab (Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities Lab)

Climate change
• Will increase extremes – for
colder and warmer, and
there is a need to extend the
use of public open spaces
even under sub-ideal
conditions.
• While we need to ensure
health is a priority, there are
ways of attracting people to
non-perfect urban
environments and it is
dependent on culture
Increasing densities and infill
development
• Challenges are related to
character, identity, cultural
preferences
CURRENT URBAN PRESSURES

Building
Science
Brown,
Gillespie, Erell
Thermal
comfort
Fanger,
Steemers,
Yannas
Adaptive
models
Auluciems,
de Dear,
Nikolopoulou
Urban
design
Microclimate
Cultural
Geography
Place
meanings
Regional
Identity
Tuan,
Cresswell
Hough
Anthropology
Urban
Studies
Culture and
climate
Roncoli,
Orlove
Whyte,
Stevens, Gehl,
Fisher
People and
built
environment
?
WHAT IS URBAN COMFORT AND WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
An exploration of the complexity of the urban comfort
phenomenon (thermal comfort + sociocultural
meanings) aimed at prioritising solutions for achieving
optimum urban microclimate

WHAT IS URBAN COMFORT AND WHY IS IT RELEVANT?
Common belief:
“Urban bioclimatic design is too complex, we can’t
control the open space climate the same way we
control indoors”
With increasing urban population:
• Urban and well-designed densities become paramount
• Appropriate design of urban microclimate is central
Why is it important
• Human comfort and health
• Social cohesion
• Environmental sustainability
• Economic performance
Q1: What are the characteristics of urban
comfort in Christchurch?
Q2: How is urban comfort shaped through
local culture in Christchurch?
Q3: What individual and social strategies
people use to adapt to a highly variable
(micro)climate?

TECHNIQUES & STRATEGIES TO MITIGATE UHI/UCI
But there are times when we cannot
bring it to the ‘ideal’ thresholds…
What can we do then?
‘Tools’ to improve urban (micro)climate:
• Cool surfaces
• Cool paving
• High albedo paving
• High emissivity paving
• Permeable paving
• Cool building envelops
• High albedo roof surfaces
• Cool paving technologies
• Street trees
• Shading
• Water
• Green roofs and walls
• ….

24 May 2012 3 November 2012 14 November 2012
25 September 2012 31 January 2013 2 September 2013
STUDY CONTEXT: THE START
Christchurch,
New Zealand
(2011-2015)

STUDY CONTEXT: THE SECOND TEST
Aachen, Germany (2014)

Regional
identity
Local Liveability
Concept
Adaptive
strategies
Examples:
Multi-cultural
Value nature
History
Examples:
Compact
Walkable
High quality city spaces
Public green areas
Examples:
How we go
What we wear
Where we go
Who we go with
Urban form
and aesthetics
Adaptation
(Collective)
Adaptation
(Individual)
URBAN
COMFORT
Urban-rural connections
Outdoor values
Private gardens
Events
Education
Garden City
URBAN COMFORT CONSIDERATIONS: A SUMMARY
BUT IS
THIS
ALL?

WORK DOMAIN ANALYSIS (WDA), A MODELING APPROACH

URBAN COMFORT WDA: A START

(PRELIMINARY) RESULTS
Focus on actions related to urban
microclimate to achieve Urban Comfort and
support resilient and healthy urban futures.
This analysis enables prioritising urban
solutions for urban comfort through the
adequate functioning of complex urban
microclimate systems and responses to
climate change.
Results support focusing on actions related to
urban microclimate that aim to achieve urban
comfort and support resilient and healthy
urban futures.
Is applicable to various urban forms and
densities relevant to the Queensland context

THANK YOU!
Dr Silvia Tavares, Lecturer in Urban Design and Town Planning
stavares@usc.edu.au
Dr Nicholas Stevens, Senior Lecturer in Urban Design and Town Planning
nstevens@usc.edu.au
BASC Lab(Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities Lab):
www.usc.edu.au/basclab