What can Sydney learn from Singapore about tackling urban heat? The two cities explored common challenges and opportunities.

WSROC was pleased to welcome a delegation from Singapore's Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment to Sydney to exchange insights on urban heat resilience and learn more about the Greater Sydney Heat Taskforce and Heat Smart City Plan.

While Singapore and Greater Sydney are very different in scale, geography and context, the discussion highlighted many shared challenges – particularly the complexity of coordinating climate adaptation and hazard management across traditional portfolio boundaries.

Heat risk cuts across planning, housing, health, emergency management, infrastructure and local government. Effective action therefore depends on collaboration across government, industry, research and communities.

The discussion also explored the challenge of investing in preparedness and adaptation today to avoid greater costs in the future. The benefits of resilience investment are often measured by what does not happen – infrastructure that is not damaged, communities that are not disrupted and costs that are avoided because we were better prepared.

The Greater Sydney Heat Taskforce provides a mechanism for bringing these perspectives together, translating shared evidence and knowledge into practical action through the Heat Smart City Plan.

For more information and resources, see WSROC's Heat Resilience Program. 

WSROC thanks our Singapore colleagues for such an open and valuable exchange and looks forward to continuing this international knowledge sharing.