Submitted by: Emma Dortins, NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Industry

To help address the challenge of urban heat, the NSW Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure has launched a package of new urban greening and cooling measures.

The Department has released the Cooler Places web resource, two new data sets, and policy updates to help reduce urban heat, deter illegal tree clearing, encourage biodiversity, and deliver improved local amenity and sustainability outcomes across NSW.​ 

Cooler Places web resource

The new Cooler Places pages are now live on our website. The resource is designed to raise awareness about urban heat and build capacity to create cooler places.

Cooler Places encourages local and state Governments, planners, industry and the community to integrate cool urban design, greening, water and cool materials into the planning and design of cities, precincts, streets, parks and homes. It includes NSW-based examples and offers links to practical and technical guidance on implementing cooling strategies. 

The resource contributes to addressing the Heat Smart City Plan’s recommendation on developing, promoting and improving access to cool design guidance. It links to an updated Urban Heat page that provides improved information on the impacts of urban heat, acknowledging the particular challenges faced by communities in western Sydney, and points to the importance of resilience planning and collaboration in addressing urban heat through the State Disaster Mitigation Plan, Climate Change Adaptation Action Plan, and Heat Smart City Plan.

Urban heat and canopy data

We’ve also released two new data resources based on our 2022 canopy data to help the community understand the impact of urban heat and canopy cover across Greater Sydney, and to support targeting of cooling interventions. 

The Heat Vulnerability Index combines tree canopy cover, surface temperatures, and demographic data to show the distribution of heat-vulnerable populations across Greater Sydney, and the factors contributing to that vulnerability. 

The Greater Sydney Canopy Access data (2022) shows the relative equity of access to canopy cover across the city, displayed at a finer scale to data previously released publicly.    

Both data resources are available on the SEED portal and can be accessed via our updated Urban Heat and Canopy Data page.

Protecting our trees – changes to deter illegal tree and vegetation clearing

NSW DPHI are also proposing changes to Chapter 2 of the Biodiversity and Conservation State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) and other related measures to deter illegal tree and vegetation clearing in non-rural areas. The proposed changes are being exhibited in an Explanation of Intended Effect (EIE) for public feedback until 5pm on 4 June 2025. It can be accessed via the Planning website’s Vegetation in non-rural areas page.

ℹ️ These initiatives work to deliver on Heat Smart City Plan recommendations:

11. Cool Design Guidance 

25. Green-Blue Infrastructure Network