Rethinking how buildings can adapt to extreme heat
As extreme heat becomes the new normal, questions are emerging about whether the systems and structures designed to keep people safe are adapting quickly enough. For decades, cooling strategies have relied heavily on air conditioning, but this approach is increasingly strained by rising temperatures and growing energy demand. At the same time, research and practice are pointing toward alternative approaches, from climate-responsive building materials to reforms in urban planning and housing governance.
The following sections bring together different perspectives on how buildings can better adapt to heat. They explore emerging materials and technologies, revisit lessons from traditional architecture, and examine the policy and planning gaps that continue to shape housing outcomes. Together, they offer a broader understanding of what it means to design for heat, showing that cooling cannot rely on technology alone, but must also be built into the structures themselves.
Air conditioning alone cannot solve the problem
As demand for cooling accelerates globally, simply scaling up air conditioning use is proving both energy-intensive and unsustainable. The cooling challenge is increasingly systemic, with many buildings designed in ways that “lock in” high cooling demand from the outset. Addressing extreme heat, therefore, begins not with expanding cooling systems, but with reducing the need for cooling altogether.
Current approaches often prioritise appliance efficiency while overlooking building design and urban form. A more integrated “avoid, shift, improve” framework instead emphasises climate-responsive architecture, stronger building codes and better urban planning. Reducing heat exposure through design can strengthen long-term resilience while lowering dependence on energy-intensive cooling systems.
Building materials shape heat resilience
As heatwaves become more frequent and prolonged, cooling systems alone are no longer sufficient to keep buildings safe. While air conditioning provides immediate relief, widespread reliance on mechanical cooling increases electricity demand, raises emissions, and adds waste heat to already overheated urban environments.
Building materials can play a key role in regulating indoor temperatures. Technologies such as phase change materials help absorb and release heat, reducing indoor temperature fluctuations. Rather than treating thermal performance as an add-on, heat resilience should be integrated into building design from the outset.
The article below explores how material innovation can reduce exposure to extreme heat while lowering long-term dependence on energy-intensive cooling systems.
Governance gaps are increasing heat risks
Extreme heat across Australia is exposing governance gaps in the way housing, energy and public health systems are managed. A more coordinated and transparent approach is needed that treats housing as critical infrastructure for reducing heat risk.
Building standards should be strengthened, regulatory loopholes closed, and compliance and inspection systems improved. Better performance metrics are also crucial, including forward-looking housing ratings and heat-stress testing, alongside greater transparency in property transactions so residents better understand heat-related risks. Housing policy cannot be addressed in isolation.
Effective heat governance requires stronger coordination across housing, energy systems, public health planning and wider disaster risk management frameworks.
Revisiting lessons from traditional architecture
What if some of the most effective responses to extreme heat have already been tested over centuries? Drawing on examples from ancient civilisations, the article below examines how homes and cities were once designed to work with heat rather than against it.
Thick walls, shaded streets, courtyards and natural ventilation helped maintain cooler indoor temperatures without relying on electricity. Rather than being just historical curiosities, these are practical lessons for contemporary urban design. In a world increasingly dependent on mechanical cooling and vulnerable to power disruptions, revisiting passive and climate-responsive architecture may offer important insights for building resilience under rising temperatures.
Rethinking cooling in a warming world
Across these examples, a broader and more nuanced understanding of cooling begins to emerge, one that spans building materials, architectural traditions, governance systems and urban planning. Some approaches focus on strengthening regulation and improving thermal performance at the material level, while others revisit long-standing design practices that work with local climates rather than against them.
What connects them is a shared recognition that extreme heat is not only a climate issue, but also a housing and design challenge that operates across multiple scales. Taken together, these articles suggest that reducing heat risk will require more than a single technological solution. Passive cooling, informed material choices and stronger governance all have a role to play in reducing vulnerability and strengthening resilience in a warming world.