Designing Cities for a Hotter Future: Prototyping a Climate Design Atlas

This talk introduces the Climate Design Atlas QLD (Prototype Study), a research
initiative addressing the urgent need for climate-adaptive design in Australia’s
rapidly warming cities. Focusing on various bio-climatic urban regions the study
investigates how urban form, architecture, materials, vegetation, and water features influence microclimates, urban geometries and thermal comfort at the
neighbourhood scale.

The project aims to map the current research landscape and identify critical
knowledge gaps in how microclimatic forces interact with urban design and
architecture. By drawing on the combined expertise of architectural history, climate responsive design, and computational modelling, the team is exploring key parameters such as urban morphology, built form, material performance, and human comfort.

A key innovation of the study is the integration of future climate data into advanced microclimate simulations. This allows the team to prototype urban and architectural solutions that perform under projected 2050 conditions and beyond, aligning with global net-zero carbon targets of Australia. The built environment remains one of the most significant contributors to climate change, making the development of passive, low-energy design strategies essential for sustainable futures.

This prototype study of insights from Cairns and Gold Coast lays the groundwork for a Climate Design Atlas—offering a valuable tool for architects, planners, policymakers, engineers, and researchers working to design livable cities with low impact in a changing climate.