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Managing urban heat islands and promoting urban cooling is becomingly increasingly important for communities and government across Australia. Research in recent years has started to explore how different land surface types contribute to either create cooler, or warmer cities. An area of growing interest is the role that living turf plays in urban heat mitigation. Supported by Horticulture Innovation Australia, Seed Consulting Services was engaged to undertake research to further develop the evidence base for the role of living turf in mitigating urban heat compared with other land surface types like artificial turf, bitumen and non-irrigated grass. This presentation, which is part of a national series, will outline the key findings on the heat impacts of these land surface types and explore what this means for policy and planning as we further develop and grow our cities in a changing climate.
Speaker
Dr Mark Siebentritt is a Director and General Manager with Edge Environment. He is an experienced environmental services manager and active driver of sustainability from a community to corporate level. His career spans nearly twenty years with public and private sector experience in liveable cities, climate change planning, water management and natural resource management. He is actively involved in working with local and state government to develop urban cooling and urban forest strategies around Australia, with a focus on integrating the underlying technical analysis with strategic planning and stakeholder engagement. Recent work has included mapping heat islands and understanding the heat impacts of green cover, artificial turf and cool roads on urban hot spots.