REPORTS

Western Sydney is hot and is set to get hotter as green fields make way for new housing developments; exacerbating what scientists call the urban heat island effect.

Extreme heat causes major liveability and resilience problems with critical impacts for human health, infrastructure, emergency services and the natural environment.

Turn Down the Heat is a WSROC-led initiative that takes a collaborative, multi-sector approach to tackling urban heat in Western Sydney.

The initiative is guided by the Turn Down the Heat Strategy (launched in December 2018). Developed with the input of 55 different organisations, the Strategy lays out a five-year plan for a cooler, more liveable and resilient future.

The Strategy aims to:

1. Identify and leverage existing best practice to develop a program of effective actions at the household, precinct and regional levels;

2. Acknowledge the limitations of the current policy framework with regard to urban heat to galvanise action across diverse stakeholders; and

3. Propose a series of priority actions for development with a broader stakeholder group.

The Strategy’s implementation will be guided by a steering committee made up of representatives from: WSROC, Western Sydney University, the Greater Sydney Commission, Resilient Sydney, NSW Health, Office of Environment and Heritage, and NSW Government Architect’s Office.