Cool Suburbs Tool

Woman sitting in the shade next to a well-designed apartment complex.

Cool Suburbs is a rating and assessment tool for building heat resilience in urban planning and development.

From precinct master plans to lot-scale design considerations, the Cool Suburbs Tool can be used to inform decision-making across the entire development process for both government and industry.

The Cool Suburbs includes a rating system to assess the heat resilience delivered by urban designs at various development scales.

The development of the rating system was supported by an expert science panel who synthesised urban heat science in an easy-to-use platform.

The Cool Suburbs Tool:

Sets out a broad range of measures (represented by credits in the Cool Suburbs Tool) that guide improved place-based urban heat resilience.
Identifies specific measures that should be considered at different stages of the development process; supporting the Tool’s use in early stages of planning and design.
Scores (via a rating system) the urban heat resilience of a range of developments from precinct to lot scale.
Provides guidance for the assessment of urban heat resilience in existing, transforming, and new suburbs.

Download Cool Suburbs here at https://coolsuburbs.com.au/

Strategy action: 4. Land use and design controls that prioritise resilience.

Project time frame: 2020 - 2021

Project partners: This is a collaboration between WSROC (lead), Resilient Sydney and Greater Sydney Commission. The project engaged a consortium to deliver the Cool Suburbs Tool: Edge Environment, Kinesis, HARC consultancy and the Water Sensitive Institute.

A science panel provides evidence and justification for the tool. The panel consists of subject matter experts from Monash University, University of Melbourne, University of NSW and Western Sydney University.

Contact: Judith Bruinsma, Project Coordinator, 02 9671 4333

This project has been assisted by the New South Wales Government and supported by local Government NSW.