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November 2022

The Latest from the Darwin Living Lab

Darwin Living Lab Symposium

Knowledge into Practice

The Darwin Living Lab Symposium was held on the 3 August 2022 at the George Brown Botanic Gardens Event Centre. After the first three years of the Darwin Living Lab, The Symposium sought to disseminate knowledge to ensure that local capacity is activated to explore innovative climate-appropriate responses to heat mitigation and tropical urban design that informs future development and urban renewal in Darwin. Read more!

Watch the Symposium Keynote Address

Dr Josh Byrnes

The keynote address was provided by Dr Josh Byrne. Dr Josh Byrne is an environmental scientist and urban design professional with a national profile as a consultant, researcher and communicator in urban sustainability. Watch Josh's keynote address and other symposium videos here:

Symposium videos

Darwin Living Labs Research Update:

Darwin Biodiversity Values Survey

Darwin’s residents and visitors possess a wealth of knowledge about the natural aspects of the city. This understanding, and often long-lived experience, is rarely reported in the scientific literature or available when management decisions are made. We’re interested in hearing what you know about Darwin’s animals, plants and habitats.

Managing extreme heat and smoke in Darwin

Extreme heat and poor air quality from bushfire smoke can lead to illness and even death. Darwin has a hot tropical climate and many landscape fires in the dry season. It’s important to understand how very hot weather and smoky conditions can be best managed to protect your health and wellbeing.

A digital twin of Darwin to monitor and navigate change

The Digital Twin uses high-resolution (10 cm) data of the distribution, area, and height of urban vegetation (e.g., trees, shrubs and grass); impervious surfaces (e.g., buildings, roads); and bare ground and water to map the condition of Darwin’s landscape in 2011, 2016, and 2021. This is being used to analyse change in tree canopy cover. Also, the information, coupled with local tree inventory data about species composition and condition, was used to quantify and value the stocks and flows of ecosystem services provided by urban trees. The valuation of services is based on the international System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) framework.