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northern suburbs feel the heat
BRIEFS
HEATWAVE
Residents in the northern suburbs of Oak Park, Hadfield and Reservoir are among the most vulnerable in Melbourne heatwaves, new research has found. People who live in Broadmeadows, Campbellfield, Thomastown and Bundoora aren’t far behind in suffering the effects of heat stress and dehydration. Ambulance callouts during heatwaves have enabled Professor Nigel Tapper and his research team at Monash University to pinpoint, by postcode, where residents are most affected. Professor Tapper said there was a clear association between suburbs with extreme heat vulnerability and the number of emergency callouts on extremely hot days. Melbourne’s inner north and west, as well as some south-eastern suburbs, show up red on a heat vulnerability map produced by the university’s Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) for Water Sensitive Cities. Professor Tapper said heatwaves were a major cause of death in Australia, with 374 associated with Melbourne’s heatwave in January 2009 – the build-up to Black Saturday – and there have been further heat-related deaths in the recent January heatwave. He said street trees and shady parks, rain gardens and better building design were crucial to surviving heatwaves. “If we don’t do other things, we’re just cooking ourselves,” Professor Tapper warned. “We found key factors that raised the risk of sickness or death in heatwaves included older people living alone, ethnicity, and the proportion of land covered by buildings that leads to excess urban warmth. “In areas that are covered by buildings, urban warming occurs that can increase local temperatures by around four degree Celsius. “This can take the temperature over the threshold where human health is threatened.” Professor Tapper said heatwaves would be more and more frequent in the next 20 years. “We will save lives by putting in place appropriate urban adaptation measures,” he said.
Cambellfield Glenroy
Thomastown Reservoir
Show on show Artists are invited to submit expressions of interest in a public art commission for the Whittlesea showgrounds to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Whittlesea Agricultural Society Show. It’s anticipated artworks will establish a link between the past and present and depict history, the local environment, farming and agricultural practices, and the show itself. Expressions of interest are open until 2pm, Wednesday, March 5. Documents, including the artist’s brief and project specifications, are available on Whittlesea council’s eTendering website page. Phone 9217 2316 \
*Source: Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities
Professor Tapper said language barriers were a big impediment in areas of diverse ethnic communities, combined with a lack of understanding of the nature of Australian heat. And poorer socio-economic circumstances meant people were unable to afford air-conditioning and the energy required to run cooling equipment. The chief executive of CRC for Water Sensitive Cities, Professor Tony Wong, said councils and urban planners needed to place greater importance on urban design and building construction to ensure more liveable suburbs. “City planning and urban design should
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be guided by these heat vulnerability maps,” Professor Wong said. “Water planners and town planners need to work together to reduce local temperatures. This would provide long-term, city-wide resilience to predicted increases in the number and severity of heatwaves in Australian cities.” The CRC research aims to develop new technologies and urban designs that include trees and waterways and to ensure urban landscapes have reliable water sources. \ HELEN GRIMAUX » mappingvulnerabilityindex.com
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4 NORTHERN WEEKLY \ FEBRUARY 11, 2014
classes for grasses Trust for Nature and Whittlesea council will hold a free field day on Saturday for landowners wanting to know more about the native grasslands and woodlands at Lakes Nature Reserve. The workshop will run from 9.30-11.30am at the Gordons Road Reserve, near the Jardier Terrace intersection, in South Morang. Contact Lauren Fraser by today on 0419 354 853 or email laurenf@ tfn.org.au. www.trustfornature.org.au \
Women’s Day Former Queensland premier Anna Bligh will be guest speaker at this year’s International Women’s Day dinner on Wednesday, March 5. Inspiring change is this year’s theme and Ms Bligh will recall her time in politics, winning her fight against cancer and the courage she found to stand up and say: “This is what chemotherapy looks like and it’s OK, you can get through it.” The dinner will be at Northcote’s Regal Ballroom, 216 High Street. Book online, calling 8668 8120 or email eladmin@emilyslist.org.au \ Cameras back on Motorists using the Western Ring Road beware. Fixed speed cameras west of Sydney Road are on again and focused on speeding motorists in both the east and west-bound lanes. Deactivated during recent freeway works, the cameras have been upgraded. During testing over the past four weeks, they detected almost 11,000 offences. \
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