By Cathy Alexander
Cities may need “cool refuges” as climate change brings heat waves and the risk of mass casualties, engineers warn.
They’ve raised the prospect of vulnerable people - including the elderly and the sick - heading into air-conditioned shopping malls to survive, possibly at night.
The Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE), a body of engineers and scientists, released a plan on Tuesday to climate-proof the country’s cities.
The report cautions that while 90 per cent of Australians live in urban areas, little has been done to prepare cities for global warming.
Heat deaths could triple in 40 years “with the potential for catastrophic disasters in unprecedented heat waves”.
The report said hotter weather would make it hard to do physical work and exercise. Old people, young children, the sick and the disadvantaged were most vulnerable, with most heat-related deaths occurring at night.
ATSE recommended the establishment of “cool refuges” in shopping malls and other enclosed public spaces.
Better warning systems were also needed.
The report said Australia’s cities, which tend to be low-density, should be made more compact and more concentrated around transport networks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Older housing might need to be renovated or demolished, and more urban green space would help.
Some neighbourhoods are expected to become “local hotspots” during heatwaves. The presence of water, green spaces, “street canyons” and impervious surfaces will affect how a suburb copes.
“As the population of Australia continues to grow, our cities are already stressed by a number of issues … it is well recognised that climate change is expected to compound many of these existing stresses as well as introducing new ones,” the report said.
It was launched by Australia’s chief scientist Penny Sackett at the World Expo in Shanghai, China, on Tuesday.
Climate change is an issue in Australia’s election campaign, with both major parties promising to reduce emissions by at least 5 per cent by 2020.
Some experts say neither party has a credible plan to meet that target.
Labor is considering a carbon price and would appoint a “citizens’ assembly” to look into it. The Liberals want to pay to store carbon in soil and trees instead.
