Climate change predictions indicate more extremes in weather conditions in the coming decades with more frequent and severe heat waves in certain locations including Australia. It is likely that the more vulnerable members of the community will be at risk during heat waves in the future from both health and financial perspectives. The trend towards fully air conditioned larger homes has already seen very large peaks in electricity demand during past heat waves. Electricity prices have increased substantially in recent years and will increase further due to greater peak demand and environmental levies. To manage the risks to dwelling occupants during heat waves, research has been carried out to determine methods of promoting adaptive behaviours through residential design. This paper describes the concept of a “cool retreat” within a dwelling which can provide comfort conditions with minimal cooling costs during heat wave periods. The cool retreat concept is shown to have its origins in the past in a number of locations around the world subject to hot conditions. Various cool retreat configurations have been analysed for thermal performance, demonstrating the viability of this approach for dealing with extreme conditions in the future.

In promoting urban consolidation, Australia’s strategic urban plans have the unintended consequence of reducing, if not eliminating, an individual household’s capacity to directly engage with new dwelling production. Contrasts exist between the production processes of a free-standing home, typically constructed to contract, and that of a multi-unit building, typically speculatively designed and sold off-the-plan. Hence, in providing a vision of higher-density urban communities, Australia’s strategic urban plans arguably contribute to a disjunction between the function of higher-density dwellings and the individual households who seek to call them home. The paper suggests successful consolidation of the Australian Dream advocated by contemporary urban planning policies, requires that future residents be provided with greater capacity to influence multi-unit housing design. It draws on literature from a diversity of international jurisdictions to summarise the benefits realised by collectives of households developing housing for their own use. In particular, it shows collective self-organised housing can support the objectives of plans promoting urban consolidation.

Current development plans for numerous Australian cities are founded within the premise of urban containment, encouraging redevelopment, infilling...

(2019). Housing Sustainability in Low Carbon Cities. Urban Policy and Research. Ahead of Print.