See how experts are addressing the urban heat island effect in creative, innovative ways. As one of the most feasible and immediately deployable measures, they’re prioritizing creation of shaded car parks. Sebastian Pfautsch, an expert in urban heat, says shading is what makes these spaces work. He describes it as “the low-hanging fruit” that can make a big difference in reducing heat island effects in urban areas. To help alleviate the issue, The Cumberland Council has already started to install shading structures over car park spaces, starting at the Holroyd Gardens car park. This project is already producing fantastic results, all while keeping parking spaces accessible.
This project is a huge step to addressing the extreme heat in Western Sydney. It zooms in on the extreme summer heatwaves, which caused the temperature to exceed 45 degrees Celsius. The temporary project employs vine-covered, latticework trellises to significantly reduce surface temperatures. This approach drastically improves the pedestrian and cyclist comfort level of urban corridors.
Shading Structures and Their Impact
The new shading structures installed by the City of Holroyd provide good examples of how maintaining current parking is possible. They have dramatically reduced heat from the surface. In nearby Merrylands, surface temperatures in a busy car park dropped by as much as 35 degrees Celsius thanks to similar vine-covered trellises.
Those trellises are oriented with a fine wire mesh to prevent birds from landing on them. The vines selected are non-fruiting so as not to drop any fruit on the cars parked below them. This artful choice guarantees that the buildings continue to work as shade-givers while avoiding more clean-up hassle for car drivers.
“We demonstrate with our solution that you can do it in a way so that you don’t even lose valuable car parking space.” – Professor Sebastian Pfautsch
The success of the Holroyd Gardens project has prompted plans for further replication, including initiatives at a car park in Wentworthville. Local officials are now looking at how they can get similar projects started in the rest of the Cumberland Council area. There’s a lot of excitement around growing this green, space-saving alternative.
The Need for Action
Pfautsch is clear about just how serious things have become in Western Sydney. More than a quarter of the more than six square kilometres of land there consists of dark-surfaced car parks. Alarmingly, only 1 percent of these neighborhoods today enjoy the shade of robust tree cover. In addition to unshaded car parks, Pfautsch said other harsh, unshaded areas create localized heat pockets that he calls micro heat islands.
“It’s always those unshaded car parks that come out as micro heat islands.” – Professor Pfautsch
Approaching Western Sydney’s geographical features only make this worse. The region’s unique topography traps heat, making it difficult to disperse once it’s built up.
“That bowl means once you have hot air in it, it’s very difficult to blow it out.” – Professor Pfautsch
Given these obstacles, local champions such as Ola Hamed are pushing for increased shading infrastructure throughout the desert metropolis. Hamed exclaims that these initiatives re-green the environment. For one, they increase the sustainability of asphalt surfaces, which saves local councils money in the long run.
“Cooling also means that asphalt itself has a longer life span, which means less money from council’s budget.” – Ola Hamed
Future Prospects for Urban Cooling
Now, the Cumberland Council is firmly committed to searching out and creating new places—groceries, bakeries, florists, etc.—within its local government area. Their hope is to deploy similar shading solutions in these communities. What Hamed would like to see now is the expansion of these projects, which he says have proven to cool down areas for heat-stressed residents by remarkable amounts.
“We’re looking at other places around the LGA where we can replicate this as well.” – Ola Hamed
Urban heat is climate crisis vulnerability that only grows more severe, and it requires immediate action. Actions at Holroyd Gardens and Merrylands represent important progress toward creating these cooler, more comfortable, sustainable, urban spaces. These efforts don’t just improve comfort for residents — they play an important part in larger climate resilience plans.
