Coolth Complex: Not just a place to be cool but a cool place just to be.

by Thomas Alder

Abstract

The urban heat island effect is a natural hazard exacerbated by ill-considered urban planning and policy that affects the most socially vulnerable members of society, who are least responsible for its intensity and least able to adapt to or mitigate it at a disproportionate rate. This practice examines the effects of the urban heat island effect (UHI) on social and thermal welfare at a neighbourhood level, with a case study on the Sydney suburb of Glebe, to identify and develop potential solution spaces. It does so through a participatory design research practice that gathers and synthesises data through primary methods such as co-design workshops and community engagement interviews. It is supported by the review of current academic literature that examines similar problem spaces. Current research indicates thermal inequity as the vulnerability of less advantaged individuals to heat stress through top-down epidemiological studies that neglect the lived experience of those individuals. There has been a recent diversion to alternative methods of understanding the effects of UHI and subsequent evaluation of potential design outputs to combat it through the lens of the community capital framework, the evaluation method this research practice employs. This framework has enabled the assessment of direct evaporative temporary pavilions (DETP) and their subsequent benefit to the community in which they have been co-designed as more than physical capital assets, but as cultural, human, and social capital resources thats use goes beyond their capacity to create coolth. The implementation of a participatory designed DETP that resonates with Glebe’s cultural and aesthetic language has fostered social interaction, placemaking and the sharing of lived experiences between residents, increasing a multitude of community capital stocks and reducing the prevalence of thermal inequity.

Design Intent

Coolth Complex is the product of the UTS Honours Social Innovation Project investigation into the effects of urban heat on comparatively disadvantaged communities, with a specific focus on the Sydney Inner West suburb of Glebe, and the design and production of design outputs that reduce the prevalence of said thermal inequity through the use of a participatory design methodology.

My practice has uncovered the critical elements inherent to the stressors associated with urban heat, beyond just its physical and environmental effects but its ability to reduce social cohesion and resilience and, by extension, the adaptive capacity of the Glebe community. These stressors have been observed as placing comparatively disadvantaged residents at risk of more significant and prolonged exposure to the effects of UHI, causing reductions in financial, physical, and social health. Coolth Complex provides a haven for the community to come together in refuge from the heat. Doing so builds social cohesion and resilience, thus increasing the adaptive capacity of Glebe whilst simultaneously providing an equally accessible heat mitigation strategy for all community members that does not favour any user group over another like current heat mitigation strategies.

Coolth complex occupies the space between art and infrastructure as it combines direct evaporative cooling mechanisms with levers for social interaction to facilitate placemaking and community building into one artefact. Designed to act as a catalyst for conversation, the Coolth Complex prompts a form of temporary performance art as it provides the stage for its community actors to enact the creation of human, social and cultural capital within the confines of a physical capital asset that through its cooling capacity improves the environmental capital of the community. The levers for social change and heat reduction mechanisms within the Coolth Complex deliver the Glebe community more than just a place to be cool but a cool place just to be.

Bio

Tom is a highly motivated product designer with a keen interest in sustainable development and social innovation. His greatest strengths lie in problem identification and resolution through research practice, prototyping, and user testing. Tom has always approached problem spaces through a practical lens as his background in woodworking has led him to place a high importance on his designs being able to be made, and also being the right thing to be made. These strengths allow him to apply his practice across varying problem spaces and create informed and appropriate solutions with real-world community applications. His strong interpersonal skills enable him to build rapport quickly and easily with clients and users, leading to more considered design outputs. Tom’s well-rounded approach to the design process allows him to quickly adapt and create impactful designs appropriate to any problem space he operates in.

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