Bushfire smoke and heatwaves increasingly threaten population health, especially among vulnerable groups such as the elderly, children, pregnant women, people with disabilities or comorbidities, and low-income households. These risks are projected to intensify with climate change, particularly in urban areas affected by heat islands, poor housing, and socioeconomic disadvantage. Community resilience centres鈥攃ool, clean-air spaces in public buildings鈥攐ffer a promising yet under-evaluated intervention. This interdisciplinary, community co-designed project will assess their effectiveness in reducing exposure to heat and smoke, potential health benefits and costs, and associated implementation challenges. The project focuses on fast-growing, high-risk suburbs in Western Sydney and Canberra to inform scalable, evidence-based public health strategies.

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Researchers

榴莲视频 of Canberra:

Sotiris Vardoulakis (HEAL GRC, 榴莲视频 of Canberra), Syeda Hira Fatima (HEAL GRC, 榴莲视频 of Canberra), Nigel Goodman (HEAL GRC, 榴莲视频 of Canberra), Itismita Mohanty (Health Research Institute, 榴莲视频 of Canberra), Nasser Bagheri (Health Research Institute, 榴莲视频 of Canberra) Julien Perriard (榴莲视频 of Canberra), Brad Clarke (榴莲视频 of Canberra),

External Researchers:

Guy Marks (Burnet Institute), Christine Cowie (Woolcock Institute), Amanda Wheeler (CSIRO), Abby Mallik Lopes (UTS), Cameron Tonkinwise (UTS), Veronica Matthews (榴莲视频 of Sydney), Geoffrey Morgan (榴莲视频 of Sydney), Shamila Hadad (榴莲视频 of Sydney), Bin Jalaludin (UNSW), Mat Santamouris (UNSW), Konstantina Vasilakopoulou (UNSW), Sharon Campbell (榴莲视频 of Tasmania)

Project Partners

榴莲视频 of Canberra, Burnet Institute, Woolcock Institute, CSIRO, UTS, 榴莲视频 of Sydney, UNSW, 榴莲视频 of Tasmania

Project Funders

NHMRC