
Urban Design Solutions for Ameliorating Urban Heat Island Effect in Townsville, Queensland
Along with Professor Karine Dupre from Griffith University, and in collaboration with Townsville City Council, we are undertaking a research project investigating urban microclimates in Townsville (Queensland, Australia).
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Implementation of the New Urban Agenda on a local level: An effective methodology for human-centred urban design
In 2018 David Sellars and I, along with Planz Town Planning, Milford Planning, Cairns Regional Council, Townsville City Council, Richard Briggs, and Chuck Wolfe, as our Fulbright expert, organised and hosted an Urban Thinkers Campus, a UN-Habitat World Urban Campaign initiative (I wrote about it here and here).
We recently reported our engagement method in a publication in the Journal of Urbanism, as per abstract below.
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Urban design and planning policy to mitigate heat-related health risks
A recent USC media release featured one of my PhD students’ work. Ryan McNeilly Smith has been working in the BASC Lab for just over one semester. He is investigating what urban planning and design policy for heat and urban climates may look like in Queensland.
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BASC Lab on the news
USC has recently published a media release about the Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities (BASC) Lab which is led by Dr Nicholas Stevens and myself, and is part of the university’s School of Law and Society and the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems.
The BASC Lab is focused both on teaching and research, and will help us to enhance a human-centred approach to urban design and town planning by considering the many factors of the physical environment that impact on people.
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Urban Heat: Mapping temperature in Ipswich
Professor Karine Dupré and I are undertaking a survey to enhance the understanding of Urban Heat Islands (UHI) on the Ipswich (Queensland, Australia). The information provided about local areas within Ipswich will be considered in steps to reduce UHI through urban design and other methods.
Read more…Urban design policy recommendations for mitigating the human health risks associated with heatwaves
Ryan McNeilly-Smith and I are undertaking a research project on how urban design solutions can assist in mitigating the human health risks associated with extreme heat events. Read more…

Two recent book chapters published in the book ‘Architecture in Millieu Tropical’
In October 2019 I have the great honour of being a keynote speaker at the conference ‘Architecture in Millieu Tropical: Construire le Paysage, entre Pratique et Recherche’ which took place at ENSAM (École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Montpellier) in La Réunion. Read more…

Awareness of urban climate adaptation strategies – an international overview
I have previously shared here the publication of the first part of a research led by Professor Sanda Lenzholzer and Professor Robert Brown, in which I had the honour of adding a New Zealand perspective.
The second part of this study has recently been published, is open access and available through Science Direct. Read more…

Urban climate awareness and urgency to adapt: An international overview
I have had the honour of being part of a research team led by Professor Sanda Lenzholzer and Professor Robert Brown. In this research we investigated the awareness of typical urban climate phenomena and sense of urgency to adapt through expert interviews in several countries worldwide. Read more…