Category: Events
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Data Centres, AI, Urban Heat, and Community Action comes together in Western Sydney
We are witnessing a data centre boom all across the globe and increasingly in Australia. Driven by growing demand for AI and digital services, data centres rely on heavy infrastructure and energy-intensive cooling systems. They attract billion-dollar global investment and in NSW, are being moved quickly through planning pipelines. This process has left limited clarity…
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VIDEO: Hot City, Cool People
An extreme heat awareness event – Parramatta, Sydney Summers in Sydney are getting longer, hotter and more extreme. On 5 Feb 2026, we filled Parramatta Town Hall in Western Sydney for our biggest in person event yet Hot City, Cool People to mark Extreme Heat Awareness Day. Extreme Heat Awareness Day is dedicated to having…
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Extreme Heat Awareness Day 2026: Here’s how it went
On February 4th 2026, we marked the second Extreme Heat Awareness Day. It was the biggest ever national action on heat in Australia, and it happened because of people like you. Launched by Sweltering Cities and the Australian Red Cross, Extreme Heat Awareness Day brings people together for a powerful national conversation about the growing impacts…
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Reframing the Heat: First Nations Voices Lead a New Story on Climate
Last month Sweltering Cities convened a one-day First Nations Heat and Storytelling Workshop. The gathering in Sydney brought together First Nations communicators, creatives, organisers and health advocates. It was an unhurried space for conversation, storytelling and reflection, a space designed not to extract or perform, but to listen. Too often, First Nations voices are invited…
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Fairfield Climate Fete: Cool Suburbs, Just Futures
Fairfield is recognised as one of the most heat vulnerable suburbs in NSW due to its surface temperatures, low tree canopy coverage, and socioeconomic and demographic data. We know that decisive government action can help create cooler, sustainable, and more equitable neighbourhoods for everyone. This is why Sweltering Cities, alongside groups such as Democracy in…
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Parramatta community Cool Walk: Witnessing the Urban Heat Island Effect
As part of Climate Action Week, Sweltering Cities ran our first community Cool Walk in Sydney. Our Cool Walk took place in Parramatta. We walked through, answered questions, and did some temperature monitoring around local hot spots that exacerbate the heat, as well as cool spots that provide us with much-needed relief on hot days. …
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Join us at these Sydney Events!
The Sweltering Cities team has been busy campaigning this summer. Our Summer of Action has seen the launch of Australia’s first Extreme Heat Awareness Day, the expansion of our work to Western Australia, and ongoing advocacy for heatwave safe homes for renters and better bus shelters. We’re proud to be representing and working with communities…
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Greater Sydney Heat Smart City Plan launched in Parramatta
Sweltering Cities welcomes the launch of the Greater Sydney Heat Smart City Plan. This ambitious multi-sectoral collaboration aims to ensure the communities of Greater Sydney are protected and can prosper and thrive during extreme heat and a hotter climate. We know that heatwaves are Australia’s deadliest natural disaster. In addition to their public health toll,…
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NSW Renters Forum Wrap Up
In the past months, Sweltering Cities has joined Sydney Alliance and the Tenant’s Union Renters Forums. Three community events with a clear goal: providing a forum for renters to share their experiences, and their ideas for what renting should be, whilst policy makers listened. Each of the forums was in different locations across Sydney: CBD,…
