Silvia Tavares

This Guideline for Preparing Heat Adaptation Plans (HAP) for Aged Care Facilities (ACFs) in Queensland was initiated in response to an identified health risk to older people from increasing heat as a result of climate change. Predicted longer and more frequent heatwaves having greater impact in urban areas where ACFs are located were also a key motivation. It focuses on identifying strategies that can be implemented in external/outdoor areas of an ACF.

This Guideline commences with the rationale for developing a model HAP for ACFs. It outlines principles and strategies for using Green Infrastructure (GI) in HAPs, recommended processes and methods for preparing a HAP. It also includes advice for monitoring, evaluation and review, so the HAP is adaptive to changing situations.

Appendix 1 is an innovative Environmental Audit Tool, Appendix 2 includes age- and ability- compatible green infrastructure Strategies, Appendix 3 explains how to calculate a Humidex, and Appendix 4 provides some indicative Costings for a sample of actions (as of Dec 2021). A Template or model is at Appendix 5. While this guideline document is lengthy due to explaining the rationale and addition of instructive appendices, an ACF Heat Adaptation Plan (as per the template) can be as short as a few pages.

This report provides a summary of the Urban Thinkers Campus (UTC) held at James Cook University, Australia in June 2018. It includes details regarding the sessions, their outcomes and the next steps forward. With 105 participants, 29 partners, and representatives from 9 countries, the UTC entitled ‘Urban Health and Liveability in Tropical Australia through Urban Diaries and Community Engagement’ took place on the 8th June 2018 in Cairns and 15th June in Townsville.