Community resilience centres for improving climate adaptation to bushfire smoke and heatwaves in changing urban environments

Bushfire smoke and heatwaves, often occurring concurrently, have a substantial burden on population health disproportionally affecting Australians in vulnerable situations, including people with chronic cardiovascular or respiratory illness, the elderly, pregnant women, the very young, sportspeople, and those living with disability. The health risks of these extreme events are projected to increase in a warming climate, particularly in urban and peri-urban areas where diverse communities are affected by heat islands, lack of greenspace, poor housing conditions, and socioeconomic disadvantage. Therefore, evidenced-based interventions are urgently needed to prevent increasing health risks and vulnerabilities due to population exposure to bushfire smoke and extreme heat.