As our cities get hotter, rebuilding whole suburbs better suited to the heat is not an option. Instead, we can draw from the best examples of how to adapt neighbourhoods and behaviours.
Artist rendition of the National Western Center, a net-zero campus under construction in Denver to house multiple activities.
City and County of Denver | Mayor’s Office of the National Western Center
Net zero energy buildings produce at least as much energy as they use. Designing whole net zero campuses and communities takes the energy and climate benefits to a higher level.
Air conditioning cools city residents during heat waves, but also strains the power grid and fuels climate change.
Joanna Poe/Flickr
Climate change is making extreme weather events, both hot and cold, more frequent across the Great Lakes region. Weatherizing low-income residents' homes is an important way to prepare.
As our planet warms, the number of air-conditioning units worldwide is expected to triple by 2050 – yet their use drives climate change. So how can we break the cycle?
Hot weather kills more Americans yearly on average than floods, tornadoes or hurricanes. Three scholars explain how cities can prepare and help residents stay cool.
Australians need better solutions for coping with the warmer climate of the future (and present).
TRACEY NEARMY/AAP
Everyone has a different ideal temperature at any given time. It could be more comfortable to monitor people's body temperatures and adjust heating and cooling in response.
A domestic cat grooming its fur.
Image courtesy of Candler Hobbs (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta).
Domestic cats spend a quarter of their waking hours grooming. But that tongue action on the fur does more than keep fur clean – it also helps keep a cat cool.
Cooling dairy cows with fans and misters at Pacheco Dairy in Kerman, Calif., during a heat wave in 2006.
AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian
Dairy cows are sensitive to heat, so farmers cool them down with sprinklers and fans. Researchers are designing better, more efficient systems to keep cows comfortable through hot California summers.
Building the hotbox dream: another housing development in Western Sydney.
Katherine Gibson
Extreme heat divides people from the environment and from each other. So with the rapid densification of our cities, what kind of legacies are we building for future generations?
Cities are facing more heatwaves, but not all strategies to keep us cool are equal.
Sydney image from www.shuttrstock.com
As the weather heats up, Australian households won’t just be cranking up the air conditioning for themselves. Some households will also be turning it on for their dogs or cats.
Australia’s average house size has more than doubled since 1950.
Melbourne houses image from www.shutterstock.com