Building community resilience to heatwaves in South Australia

The Emergence of Different Local Resilience Arrangements Regarding Extreme Weather Events in Small Municipalities—A Case Study from the Wielkopolska Region, Poland

Compared with other parts of the world, Poland is a relatively safe country in terms of natural disasters. Nevertheless, extreme weather events have become a significant threat in recent years, especially for local communities. These are exposed to intense rainfall, heavy wind, and heatwaves, as are larger towns. However, small municipalities have different economic, social, and human potential for undertaking preventive actions regarding meteorological extremes. In this paper, we are looking at what activities local communities from the Wielkopolska region in Poland undertake to cope with extreme weather events—specifically, heavy rainfall and heatwaves. We analyze the municipalities that are most and least exposed to extremes, based on meteorological data. These are further compared with local resilience measures in the event of extreme meteorological events through the risk management analysis of selected municipalities. The emergence of two approaches regarding extreme weather events has been observed. First, local arrangements consist of different resilience types. Both of the identified approaches are concentrated around rescue activities, representing recovery resilience. They differ in the second component of resilience: municipalities that have suffered more from weather extremes manifest more resistance resilience, whereas those communities where fewer meteorological events took place demonstrate more creativity-type resilience.

Socio-economic and environmental vulnerability to heat-related phenomena in Bucharest metropolitan area

In the recent years, the effects of extreme climate phenomena (mainly heat-related) on agricultural crops, infrastructure and human health have become increasingly severe as a result of their complex interactions with the particularities of the urban/rural habitat, as well as the social and economic factors. In Romania, heat-related phenomena (e.g. drought, heat waves) are affecting wide areas in the southern half of the territory where the study area (Bucharest Metropolitan Area) lies. The paper aims to develop a multi-criteria vulnerability assessment using both quantitative and qualitative methods. 23 indicators were selected and processed in order to assess various components of socio-economic and environmental vulnerability to heat-related phenomena using the statistical data available at local administrative units (LAU). The indicators were grouped into the three key components of vulnerability (potential exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity) on two dimensions (socio-economic and environmental) resulting two indexes: Socio-Economic Vulnerability Index (SEVI) and Environmental Vulnerability Index (EVI). Finally, an integrated Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) (using Hull score, average 50 and standard deviation 14) was computed.

The Living Environment and Thermal Behaviours of Older South Australians: A Multi-Focus Group Study

Ageing brings about physiological changes that affect people's thermal sensitivity and thermoregulation. The majority of older Australians prefer to age in place and modifications to the home environment are often required to accommodate the occupants as they age and possibly become frail. However, modifications to aid thermal comfort are not always considered. Using a qualitative approach this study aims to understand the thermal qualities of the existing living environment of older South Australians, their strategies for keeping cool in hot weather and warm in cold weather and to identify existing problems related to planning and house design, and the use of heating and cooling. Data were gathered via seven focus group sessions with 49 older people living in three climate zones in South Australia. The sessions yielded four main themes, namely 'personal factors', 'feeling', 'knowing' and 'doing'. These themes can be used as a basis to develop information and guidelines for older people in dealing with hot and cold weather.