As such, early design interventions that address heat reduction are essential in the creation of our new communities.
Landcom’s Austral project incorporates sustainable urban design including street planting and rain gardens to cool the neighbourhood and showcase best practice in urban heat island reduction. The project’s streetscape has been designed to improve walkability and cool the urban environment by piloting the Western Sydney Street Design Guidelines.
Modelling has been undertaken to compare urban heat outcomes of the street design with the standard design specified in the local Development Control Plan. The modelling shows a reduction in ambient temperature of 6o across parts of the project area and a significant reduction in the overall urban heat island effect, as shown in the figure below.
This improvement is a result of changes to the width of the road reserves and the components inside them, including a higher percentage of urban tree canopy coverage, reduction in street width and a reduction in the kerb radius.
The project has been designed to incorporate pervious pavement and design guidelines that will focus on high reflectivity, light coloured roofs to further reduce the urban heat island effect. These principles and features are now being considered for upcoming projects.
Image: Urban heat island temperature reduction comparison - local Development Control Plan (left image) and the Western Sydney Street Design Guidelines (right image).
