Too hot to play: Quantifying the impacts of urban climate change on playground activity

Playing outdoors is a right of children and especially important for those growing up in urban environments where access to nature is restricted. Well-designed public play areas also provide space and opportunity for connection across genders, socio-economic status, and generations.

However, the combination of global climate change and urban sprawl is worsening urban overheating, which in turn reduces the liveability of outdoor spaces.

This is a particular issue in Western Sydney. Surface temperatures in sun-exposed playgrounds in Western Sydney are often hot enough to burn skin due to insufficient provision of high-quality shade and inadequate materials used for flooring materials and equipment. Inadequate shading also increases the overexposure to UV radiation of children but also parents and supervisors.

This project will investigate the conditions when play in public playgrounds across western Sydney becomes unsafe due to the lack of shade and materials that become too hot. We aim to combine energy flux measurements and environmental monitoring together with assessment of occupancy and human thermal comfort to evaluate the quality and quantity of shade and thermal environment under summer conditions.

Results will identify thresholds when playgrounds become too hot to play, and the impact of different levels of shading. These results can be used immediately to improve playground shade in Parramatta and beyond.

Findings will be used strategically to approach industry partners, government, and not-for-profit organisations to develop a larger systematic research project that develops basic principles for outdoor playgrounds that will remain safe for children under a warmer climate and consistently high UV radiation.

Below: Surface temperatures measured at different playgrounds in Western Sydney.