Urban design and planning for extreme heat: an empirical study of built environment professionals’ perceptions in South East Queensland, Australia

Figures & data

Table 1. Survey respondent professional and organisational affiliation.

	Affiliation	%	n
Profession	Architecture	4.88	2
	Landscape architecture	14.63	6
	Town planning	48.78	20
	Urban design	29.27	12
	Other^a	2.44	1
Organisation type^b	Public sector – Local government	52.63	20
	Public sector – State government	13.16	5
	Private sector	18.42	7
	Academia	15.79	6

^aEnvironmental planning.

^bOther possible responses included the following but received zero responses: ‘Public sector – Federal government’; ‘Not-for-profit’, and ‘Other’.

Table 2. Survey and interview focus and themes.

Overarching themes (Aims)	Sub-themes
Extreme heat and professional’s awareness and practice	Increased awareness due to other climate-related planning and policy development Education and professional development
Resources for heat-mitigation	Existing statutory material Best practice heat-mitigation material
The planning system and the Queensland State Government’s role	Limitations of statutory instruments Building code-imposed limitations Professional experience in subtropical and tropical settings Innovation at odds with regulation Lack of strategic policy position Inadequate implementation of heat-mitigation strategies Model policy examples Place-based design guidelines Data to support decision making
Urban design solutions	Climate-responsive urban design as business as usual Constraints – Vegetation Constraints – Shading Constraints – Material selection and albedo Constraints – Winds and breezes Constraints – Water

Figure 1. Practiced-related questions by profession group.

Figure 2. Resources used in practice.

Figure 3. Planning framework questions by profession group.

Figure 4. Effectiveness and use of urban design solutions.