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People living in urban locations are especially vulnerable to the negative impacts of increased temperatures, resulting from climate change and urban heat island effects. As urban areas grow and redevelop then, it is important for urban planners to implement policies that protect city dwellers from heat exposure.

In this article for Science of the Total Environment, CAUL Hub researchers analysed the relationship between urban vegetation and land surface temperatures. Using satellite data and high resolution aerial imagery, the researchers assessed how different urban vegetation configurations, such as trees, shrubs and grass, could reduce temperatures in cities. In their case study of Perth, the researchers found that an increase in urban vegetation reduced summer and winter land surface temperatures, and that this effect was larger in summer months. They also found that increased tree and shrub cover had a larger cooling effect than grass coverage.

These findings illustrate the exciting potential to develop locally-detailed and spatially explicit tools to guide planning of vegetation configuration to maximise cooling in urban areas.

Featured image credit: Cecily Maller

Australia’s leading researchers in atmospheric composition measurement and modelling came together earlier this month for the Atmospheric Composition and Chemistry Observations and Modelling Conference, hosted by CSIRO.

The purpose of this conference was to better understand the role of atmospheric chemistry and composition in global atmospheric change. The conference also provided the forum for multi-disciplinary collaboration in developing a coordinated regional approach to characterising atmospheric processes.

Given CAUL Hub’s leading research into urban air quality, Clare Murphy and Elise-Andreé Guérette each presented on Project 1 and 7 research and findings. Clare outlined CAUL Hub’s campaign ‘Characterising Organic Aerosol Loading in Australia – Joint Organic Emissions Year-round Study’ and Elise discussed the research project’s characterisation of biogenic volatile organic compounds in the greater Sydney region. Researchers were excited by the many advances being made in atmospheric modelling, including efforts to model pollen pollution and the thunderstorm asthma effect.

Featured image credit: https://wp.csiro.au/accomc_cgasm/

The National Creating Healthy Liveable Cities Report won the ‘Cutting Edge Research and Technology’ category of the Victorian Planning Institute of Australia Awards last Friday.

This report is the first “baseline” measure of liveability in Australia’s state and territory capitals and represents the culmination of 5 years of research. The report will now go through to the National Awards for Planning Excellence ceremony, which acknowledges the best of planning and planners around Australia.

You can read the full report here.

There is growing recognition of the importance of biogenic emissions on atmospheric chemistry and air quality within urban air-sheds (especially in cities surrounded by densely forested regions). A collaborative campaign involving the University of Wollongong and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) will involve running the Biogenic Ambient Atmospheric Sampling System (BAASS) for state-of-the-science measurements of the chemicals emitted by trees (biogenic volatile organic compounds or VOCs).

The campaign will begin in earnest in the coming weeks and will form the prelude to the larger scale International campaign COALA (Characterising Organics and Aerosol Loading in Australia). Find out more here.

Featured image credit: Josh Withers via Unsplash

Cecily Maller presented a paper at ‘Urban nature: the governance and politics of nature-based solutions in the city, International Workshop’ for the EU Horizon 2020 NATURVATION project at the Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona.

Her paper, titled ‘Cities as more-than-human habitat and the politics of who nature-based solutions are for’ discussed how nature-based solutions have the opportunity to transform the governance, planning and design of cities for more than just people – and how more-than-human thinking can help them achieve this.

Cecily also wrote this article for Foreground, on how more-than-human thinking can help resolve many issues with our current thinking about cities and health. And it’s the #1 trending article on Foreground’s website for November!

Featured image credit: Marcus Ward via Foreground