Special Section on Health, Urban Climate and Complexity in Urban Design and Planning

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Cover image: aerial view of Barcelona, Spain. Photo by Logan Armstrong on Unsplash
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Published: Dec 31, 2023
DOI: https://doi.org/10.32891/jps.v8i2.1807
Keywords:
urban climate urban complexity public space bioclimatic sustainability integration of practice and theory sociotechnical systems equitable cities urban health

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Gregor H. Mews
University of the Sunshine Coast
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9447-7413
Silvia Tavares
BASC-Lab, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8405-9717
Nicholas Stevens
BASC-Lab, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast

Abstract

This journal section welcomes contributions addressing new knowledge through research, practice examples and experimentation related to public spaces for all. The section calls for contributions to a discourse within and across the nexus of:
- Urban health to enable holistic and equitable communities
- Urban climate analysis and environmental performance concerning, for example, city form, green infrastructure and human thermal comfort
- Exploring urban complexities, particularly regarding the consideration of the system-wide interdependencies of sociotechnical and socioecological relationships.
To date, there is very little discourse and research on public space undertaken from these perspectives and paradigms and their intersection. Hence, we seek contributions that embrace complexity, examine ambiguities and in-betweens, and contradictions in policies. We also welcome experimental methodologies that can have a practical impact and achieve an ontological shift towards transformative change in communities transcending the conceptual Global North and South, East and West dualism. We appreciate theoretical and practical investigations that demonstrate entanglement with multifaceted aspects ranging from visualisation, communication, or arts-based expressions. We seek to explore the environmental, social, and technical conditions that contribute to an urban climate conducive to health and well-being in the broadest sense. Selected contributions and case studies will need to demonstrate the successful application of at least two of the three focus themes. These manuscripts will allow space for discussion regarding scale-ability and practice application to achieve equitable public spaces.

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How to Cite
Mews, G. H., Tavares, S. and Stevens, N. (2023) “Special Section on Health, Urban Climate and Complexity in Urban Design and Planning”, The Journal of Public Space, 8(2), pp. 111–116. doi: 10.32891/jps.v8i2.1807.
Issue
Vol. 8 No. 2 (2023): Research Perspectives
Section
Call for Papers
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Author Biographies

Gregor H. Mews, University of the Sunshine Coast

Dr Greg Mews teaches Urban Design and Town Planning and is a research co-lead of the Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities lab (BASC) at the University of the Sunshine Coast. In his pursuit of adding quality to urban environments he has worked across all sectors around the world, transcending boundaries across the Global North and South. He tirelessly advocates for better health and wellbeing outcomes in cities. Greg's recent book "Transforming Public Space through Play" received the prestigious Gerd Albers Award for best book in 2022 from the International Society of City and Regional Planners as well as the 2022 Planning Institute of Australia QLD Award for best research.

Silvia Tavares, BASC-Lab, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast

Dr Silvia Tavares is an urban designer with a background in architecture, urbanism, and building and city science (affiliate member of PIA and registered architect and urbanist in Brazil). She is the founder and co-leader of UniSC’s Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities Lab (BASC Lab) and is chief investigator in several projects focused on improving urban climate through design and planning. These projects aim to inform strategies related to human thermal comfort, green infrastructure, public health, and climate change impacts.
Dr Tavares has extensive teaching experience both in studio-based and theory-based subjects in architecture, urban planning, urban design, building and city science and landscape architecture. She is particularly interested in pedagogies supporting knowledge transfer between urban climate science and urban design and planning practices. She also strives to encourage students’ critical thinking and support them in developing as future professionals.
Before UniSC, Dr Tavares worked at James Cook University (Australia), Lincoln University (New Zealand), as a visiting researcher at the ILS (Institut für Landes- und Stadtentwicklungsforschung gGmbH) (Germany), and at the UFT (Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Brazil).

Nicholas Stevens, BASC-Lab, School of Law and Society, University of the Sunshine Coast

Dr Nicholas Stevens is a social scientist and urbanist with qualifications and a practical background in horticulture, landscape architecture, town planning and infrastructure development. He is the undergraduate and postgraduate Program Coordinator for Urban Design and Town Planning at UniSC. He is also the Co-Lead of UniSCs Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities Lab (BASC Lab), and the Land Use Planning and Urban Design research theme leader in the Centre for Human Factors and Sociotechnical Systems at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
He has a track record of working with government and industry on research projects focused on the impacts of infrastructure development on wider city systems, including airports, rail, and urban transport corridors. Nicholas is involved in a range of current projects and urban design advisory panels that focus on the design and delivery of urban centres and public open spaces to optimise their adaptive capacity and resilience. In 2018 co-authored an important Human Factors and Ergonomics and Urban Design cross-disciplinary book - Human Factors in Land Use Planning and Urban Design: Methods, Practical Guidance, and Applications.
Nicholas has significant experience in establishing and leading cross-disciplinary international student field trips to explore higher density urban living and infrastructure delivery. He has received Australian federal government funding for study trips to locations such as Guangzhou, China (2015); Hong Kong, China (2016); Bangalore, India (2018); Lucknow India (2019); and in the future Hyderabad, India and Kathmandu, Nepal.
His research and expertise in urbanism have resulted in his identification as an agenda contributor to the World Economic Forum and the Conversation research engagement platforms on the topics of cities as complex systems and the value of exploring them utilising HFE and systems approaches.
More information on Nicholas' research is available at:

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