Human-environment interactions - Study 3: Climate change

Human-environment interactions

Study 3: Climate change - Urban Heat Islands

Commencing Term 2, 2024.

Cities tend to be hotter than surrounding rural areas. This is known as the urban heat island effect. It is the result of complex interactions between the built environment and natural processes. Urban heat islands are increasing the effects of climate change, making higher temperatures and extreme hot weather events more severe and difficult to manage, placing people and the environment at risk. 

Recognising the challenges and the need to mitigate the UHI effect City of Ryde council has partnered with the Field of Mars EEC in the Cool Places Cool Spaces citizen science project. The project provides students an active role in collecting quantitative and qualitative primary data that will be utilised in environmental management, urban planning, social planning, economic development, parks planning and sustainability and to support the design and implementation of heat mitigation measures, enabling cool and liveable suburbs in the future.

Students will use fieldwork instruments to measure ambient heat, light, humidity, wind turbulence and percentage foliage cover. Field observations are used to determine albedo and impact of heat absorption and reflection. 

The data will support Council in achieving targets set in the Ryde Resilience Plan 2030 and to support community education around the impacts of heat, particularly on vulnerable members of the community and heat preparedness information.

Location

• Meadowbank