Urban comfort – SILVIA TAVARES

Upcoming keynote – ENCAC/ELACAC 2025

Next September I will be in Brazil to deliver a keynote at ENCAC/ELACAC 2025.

NExT Forum: Climate Responsive Urban Design

On 7th November I will have the honour of being part of a trialog of experts discussing climate-responsive urban design and planning. Information from from the flyer, also attached below:

Upcoming presentation in Cairns (Australia)

I am very honoured to be a speaker in this week’s Urban Heat Seminar in Cairns. The seminar will take place this Friday 8th July 2022 from 12pm to 4:30pm at the Civic Reception Rooms in the Cairns Regional Council Chambers.

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).

Exploring the Impact of COVID-19 Lockdown on Public Spaces through a Systems Modelling Approach

Even though we have had already a few publications out of our Urban Design and Town Planning in response to COVID-19 project, I realised I failed to publish here about this one. This paper came out a while ago in the Special Issue 2020: A Year without Public Space under the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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.

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.

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…

Sensing Cities: Smart Thermal Comfort for Climate Adaptation

Quite unexpectedly, last week I was interviewed by Channel 7 (Cairns) and WINNEWS. The interviews aired on the 26th November. Read more…

About Dr Silvia Tavares

Urban designer with a background in architecture, urbanism, and building and city science. Brazilian national. Senior Lecturer in Urban Design and Town Planning at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia. Affiliate member of PIA and registered architect and urbanist in Brazil.

Passionate about interfaces between urbanism, landscape and architecture. Interested in providing evidence through research to produce public open spaces that are thermally comfortable and economically effective, while promoting the good health of users and the natural environments that surround them.

For more information see the 'about' page on the menu above.

All opinions and points of view expressed in this website are my own and do not reflect employer or colleagues' opinions.