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The motion asks council to urgently consider replacing the artificial grass with a non-plastic safe alternative: “Plastic grass can in summer months reach extremely high temperatures exposing the public, and particularly children, to the risks of heat exposure and burns.” Dodds cites research showing that artificial turf can reach 72 degrees, compared with 39 degrees for real grass.
A thermal graphic shows the effect of tree shade on road surface temperature.Credit:
Playgrounds with black and dark-coloured wet pour rubber and synthetic turf, which had different types of plastic grass, were the hottest floor materials, the journal Building and Environment reported. They all had maximum surface temperatures greater than 80 degrees.
On the verge of a suburban Chatswood street, Dodds discovered fake grass that was as hot as the black bitumen on the adjacent road.
An urban heat study commissioned by the council from Western Sydney University found “stark thermal differences” across the LGA, with air temperatures reaching 46 degrees in some areas. Using more than 100 temperature loggers, it showed extreme heat was an issue in a suburb like Chatswood, as well as in the east of the city, near the harbour, and in the west.
All councils faced trying to mitigate the impacts of urban heat, but it was far from a “one size fits all” solution, said WSU urban heat expert Professor Sebastian Pfautsch.
He said other local governments were trying to identify and quantify the size of the problem too. Sydney, Blacktown, Parramatta, Cumberland, Campbelltown and Penrith were doing studies, while Northern Beaches has completed a partial study that focused on Brookvale.
Locals say the square in Chatswood’s Civic Centre Concourse is looking rundown, and the fake grass that replaced real grass can be too hot to sit on when the weather is hot.Credit: Chatswood Council
“What these councils had in common was that they didn’t expect the large variations we document in microclimates across their jurisdiction, especially during days when heat is extreme.
“Yet, every LGA has its ‘specialties’. For example, the harbour breezes in Willoughby or the City of Sydney, the cool air drainage in Parramatta at night, or the very hot new suburbs like Marsden Park in Blacktown.”
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It was not without conundrums. “Cooling interventions need to be targeted. Urban spaces are complex,” Pfautsch said. “Take the Concourse. It is the second-hottest place around Chatswood due to its materials, colours, absorbance and reflectance of heat, the lack of shade. But because the place has unobstructed sky above, it is the coolest place in the evening and at night – heat just radiates back into space, no trapping under trees or shade sails.”
Willoughby Mayor Tanya Taylor did not comment ahead of Monday night’s meeting to discuss the matter.
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