Cooling the Commons is an action research program that co-designs practices and infrastructures for accessible cool living in an age of urban heating.
Pattern Deck
The Cooling the Commons Pattern Deck has been designed as a prototype decision-making resource for planners, developers, educators, community liaison officers, council workers and the communities they serve.
Highlighted Projects
Cooling the Commons Pilot Study
Climate Risk, Climate Ready!
In the Cooling the Commons pilot, low-income communities shared their creative solutions and workarounds for coping with the summer heat. We gathered these into a handy brochure of tips and tricks for heat preparedness and staying cool and safe when the heat hits.
Cooling Common Spaces in Densifying Urban Environments
We worked in partnership with Landcom, the NSW government land and property developer, to identify best practice ‘cool commons’ all over the world. Learning from these examples, we developed a Pattern Deck and workshop methodology for engaging different stakeholders in creating more liveable and social built environment futures.
Latest Publications
Arora, V. & Mellick Lopes, A. (2022). Create Cool Commons. In Future Cities Lab Indicia 03. Zurich: Lars Müller Publishers. pp.70-72. https://www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/future-cities-laboratory-indicia-03
Mellick Lopes, A. Crabtree-Hayes, L. (2021). A conversation about the weather. In Hamilton, J., Reid, S., van Gelder, P., & Neimanis, A. Feminist, Queer, Anticolonial Propositions for Hacking the Anthropocene. Open Humanities Press. Print ISBN:
Mellick Lopes, A. & Healy, S. (2021). Cultivating the Habits of Coolth. In (eds) Hawkins, G. & Bennett, T. Assembling and Governing Habits. Routledge.
Mellick Lopes, A., Arora V., Healy, S., Power, E., Armstrong, H., Crabtree, L., Gibson, K., and Tonkinwise, C. (2020). Cooling Common Spaces in Densifying Urban Environments: A Review of Best Practice and Guide for Western Sydney Renewal. Sydney: Landcom.
Partners
