Urban Communities
Overview
Australia is highly urbanised, with 9 out of 10 people living in urban communities.
The health impacts of climate change in urban communities include numerous factors including direct effects, such as heat stress and other extreme weather events, and indirect effects, such as poor water quality, enhanced air pollution impacts, vector-borne diseases, food insecurity and mental health impacts. These can be ameliorated by effective urban planning, development and management. The Adaptation Research Network for Human Health is working closely in collaboration with the Adaptation Research Network for Settlements & Infrastructure.
Action on climate change in urban communities can deliver additional co-benefits for human health. These include increased physical activity from active travel and improved nutrition from a vegetable-rich diet.
Research and activities
A research collaboration cluster on Urbanism, Climate Adaptation and Health is being established by CSIRO’s Climate Adaptation Flagship. The cluster will bring together scientists from a range of disciplines to develop adaptation strategies for safeguarding the health of our urban populations in the face of a variable and changing climate. The Cluster's research program will focus on heat stress, food security and safety, air quality, and the changing risk posed by vector-borne diseases such as dengue fever due to climate change.
Cluster research objectives include:
- a fuller understanding of climate-related risks to health
- evaluation of early warning systems for impending increases in stressful climate-related exposure
- evaluation of existing occupational and environmental standards and public health practices
- development of decision support tools for policy makers, urban planners, developers and households.
Cluster partners are:
- The Australian National University
- The University of Queensland
- The University of Melbourne
- University of Western Sydney
- Curtin University
- Monash University
- James Cook University
- Queensland Institute of Medical Research
- New South Wales Department of Primary Industries
- Arup.
More information is available from the CSIRO website: http://www.csiro.au/partnerships/ClimateHealthCluster.html
Publications and resources
Urbanism, climate change and health: Systems approaches to governance. In this paper, the authors argue for systems approaches, and holistic urban governance, to effectively address health impacts of climate change and other health problems such as the obesity epidemic.
Report of World Health Organization Workshop on Research Priorities for Climate Change and Health in Urban Settings, 27-28 Nov 2008, Kobe, Japan.
Node Leader
Prof. Anthony Capon from Australian National University leads the urban communities node.
Links
Adaptation Research Network for Settlements & Infrastructure:
