Silvia Tavares
Associate Dean, Research, School of Law and Society
Lab leader, Bioclimatic and Sociotechnical Cities Lab
Email: stavares@usc.edu.au
Biography
I am an urban designer with a background in architecture, urbanism, and building and city science (affiliate member of PIA and registered architect and urbanist in Brazil). I am interested in the production of high-quality well-designed public spaces which enhance the quality of life of the people using them. My research focuses on providing evidence to produce public open spaces that are thermally comfortable and promote the good health of users and the natural environments that surround them. My main focus is, therefore, designing for urban thermal comfort and urban microclimates, the relationship between urban microclimates and people’s health, and the impacts of climate change on them all. Whenever possible, I work with industry, stakeholders and citizens to understand where my research can provide useful evidence for contemporary pressing issues.
I have extensive teaching experience both in studio-based and theory-based subjects in architecture, urban planning, urban design, building and city science and landscape architecture. I am interested in exploring new technologies for effective and efficient teaching and learning of design methods and techniques. I also strive to encourage students’ critical thinking and support them in developing as future professionals.
Before USC, I worked at James Cook University (Australia), Lincoln University (New Zealand), as a visiting researcher at the ILS (Institut für Landes- und Stadtentwicklungsforschung gGmbH) (Germany), and at the UFT (Universidade Federal do Tocantins, Brazil). I have work experience as an architect in Rio Grande do Sul State, in the south of Brazil, where I also undertook my BArch and MSc.
Professional memberships
- PIA – Planning Institute of Australia Affiliate (Acad.) Member
- Laboratório da Habitação e Inovação – Lab+Hab at Universidade Estadual do Maranhão, São Luis, Brazil
- CAU-RS – Architecture and Urbanism Accreditation in Brazil
Awards and Fellowships
- UN-Habitat’s World Urban Campaign Urban Thinkers Campus: Urban livability in tropical Australia through urban diaries and community engagement, 2018
- PIA Queensland Award for Planning Excellence Category: Public Engagement & Community Planning Award Project: Urban Thinkers Campus – Urban Health & Livability in Tropical Australia, 2018
- JCU TropEco Partnerships and Engagement Award (Highly Commended) Project: Urban Thinkers Campus – Urban Health & Livability in Tropical Australia, 2018
- Fulbright Specialist Program (Host Institution) / Project: Promoting urban livability in tropical Australia through urban diaries and community engagement, 2018
- Blended Learning and Innovation Grant (BLING) – JCU, 2017
- Research Writing Grant - Lincoln University – Faculty of Environment, Society and Design (ESD), 2014
- PhD Teacher Fellow Scholarship Lincoln University, New Zealand, 2011-2014
- 48 Hour Design Challenge – Gloucester Street Site Category Award Christchurch City Council, New Zealand, 2011
- PROCEL Masters Scholarship (Brazil), 2005-2006
Teaching areas
- Urban Design Studio (in multiple scales)
- Urban Design and Planning History and Theory
- Landscape Architecture Design Studio
- Landscape Architecture History and Theory
- Building and City Science
- Urban and Landscape Infrastructure
- Architecture Design Studio
- Architecture History and Theory
Research
Publications
Journal article | Peer reviewed
Ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposure in playgrounds: an Australian case study ↗
by Silvia Tavares and Holly Carvolth
2026
Journal of Urban Design
Record cases of skin cancer in Australia emphasizes the urgent need for greater Ultraviolet Radiation (UVR) protection, particularly in public spaces and where children spend time. This study analyses the shade provision of 10 parks in the Sunshine Coast (Australia). Methods used include participant observation, shade analysis and UVR measurements. Results highlighted disparities regarding shade effectiveness. Whilst all parks had some form of built shade, playgrounds with dense trees proved more effective in reducing UVR levels. The size, quality, age and shade cloths' placement also impact its protection capacity. Results indicate the need for greater shade-based regulations to guarantee UVR protection.
Journal article | Peer reviewed
Urban Heat Mitigation in a Tropical Climate: A Computer Simulation-Based Study in Townsville, Australia ↗
by Silvia G. Tavares, Majed Abuseif and Karine Dupre
2025
City and Environment Interactions
Urban Heat Islands (UHI) pose significant challenges to cities, particularly in tropical climates. This study evaluates various UHI mitigation strategies applied to the Central Business District (CBD) of Townsville using ENVI-met v5.5.1. Air temperature (Ta), relative humidity (RH), wind characteristics, Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT), and Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) were assessed under various scenarios. Strategies investigated include increasing natural and artificial shading, altering pavement albedos, and adding green buildings. Results show that on average, Ta in the proposed scenarios were lower than the input data (up to 3.5 °C) except at 1 pm and 4 pm, due to the differences in the urban morphology between the two dataset locations. Adding buildings generated the worst results and negatively impacted night cooling. The other scenarios positively impacted Ta reduction on average (0 °C to 0.21 °C per hour). The built environment significantly altered wind patterns, and added buildings contributed to increased wind speed (up to 1 m/s during the hottest hours). The median MRT increased during the early hours surpassing the health stress threshold (57.1 °C) at 9am, condition which remained until 2 pm, decreasing afterwards. But importantly, an overestimation of MRT was observed due to the topographical characteristics of the site. This study reveals a misconception that the hottest hours are the most harmful to human well-being, as they may vary based on the local climate patterns. Results also demonstrate that while some strategies contribute to temperature reduction, challenges persist, especially during the hottest hours. This work advances UHI mitigation for tropical savanna climates, guiding sustainable urban planning.
Journal article | Peer reviewed
Communicating Urban Climate: An International Overview ↗
by Silvia G. Tavares, Ivana Vujić, Sanda Lenzholzer, Gerrit J. Carsjens and Robert D. Brown
2025
City and Environment Interactions
Urban climate phenomena significantly affect the well-being of city populations. However, recent studies reveal limited awareness of urban climate among key stakeholders who shape climate adaptation efforts. Communication offers a promising means of addressing this gap and mobilising stakeholders towards effective adaptation. Yet, the effectiveness of communication in engaging these groups remains unclear. This study investigates how urban climate communication functions among key stakeholder groups: citizens, politicians, urban planners and designers, and urban climate experts, and examines its role in fostering awareness and driving action. This study employed a qualitative research design using key informant interviews with 92 experts across nine countries. The findings reveal a widespread need for improved communication, particularly stronger collaboration between urban climate experts and urban planners and designers. These groups hold essential knowledge and complementary expertise and should form closer partnerships with political decision-makers. Interviews revealed that two-thirds of urban planners and designers struggle to translate climate data into actionable strategies, citing inaccessible communication from experts. Two-thirds of respondents also identified a persistent disconnect between policymakers and citizens, resulting in fragmented adaptation efforts. The study underscores the importance of tailored, interactive communication strategies that account for diverse governance structures, socio-economic conditions, and development contexts across the countries examined. The findings highlight the urgency of strengthening urban climate communication to enable more inclusive, coordinated, and effective adaptation responses.
Journal article | Peer reviewed
Landscape and Urban Design for improved urban microclimate ↗
by Silvia Tavares and Jiawei Fu
2025
Landscape Review
In this paper, we discuss the important role of landscape architecture and urban design in implementing urban heat mitigation strategies. We discuss how these professions relate to and are considered in studies focused on urban climate and outdoor thermal comfort. Strategies available through landscape architecture and urban design are closely associated with an improved urban thermal environment (Chu et al, 2024). Street orientation, building height and density, green cover ratio, building materials, and the shape and size of water bodies can mitigate urban heat by adjusting urban microclimate and reducing energy use (Abd Elraouf et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2022; Xu et al, 2019). In the context of climate change, it is therefore essential to properly design and plan the built environment for mitigating urban heat, and it is increasingly important to ensure effective communication between the science community and built environment professionals.
Book chapter | Peer reviewed
Climate change impacts on public space: the role of urban greenery in mitigating and adapting to urban heat ↗
by David King, Stephen Naylor, Jiawei Fu and Silvia Tavares
2025
Public Space and the Sustainable Development Goals
The consequences of climate change will inevitably contribute to the pressures applied to urban spaces. Urban greenery plays a vital role in urban heat alleviation, providing multifaceted benefits for public spaces. With limited space available for urban greenery, it is crucial to understand how to arrange vegetation to maximize cooling benefits and minimize the extreme effects of climate change. This chapter presents the role of urban greenery in reducing urban heat, and the influence of spatial allocation of urban vegetation on heat reduction. The strategy for arranging urban greenery to alleviate heat stress is outlined. Based on the findings, this chapter also discusses potential research directions aimed at better protecting vulnerable groups experiencing the impacts of climate change in urban public areas.
Explore all Silvia Tavares's publications in UniSC Research Bank
Grants
25 June 2025 - 20 December 2025
Cool Urban Spaces for Public Health
Sunshine Coast Council (Australia)
Grant no. 0980030786.
Silvia Tavares
22 March 2024 - 22 March 2025
Establishing a systems understanding of the Sunshine Coast Biosphere: actors, opportunities, and impacts.
Sunshine Coast Council (Australia)
Grant no. 0980028465.
Silvia Tavares, Greg Mews and Nicholas Stevens
6 March 2023 - 27 September 2024
Urban microclimates of Noosa
Noosa Council
Grant no. 0980028069.
Nicholas Stevens and Silvia Tavares
19 June 2024 - 21 August 2024
SPARK Essence of Research Leadership Program Silvia Tavares
University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia, Sunshine Coast) - UniSC
Grant no. 0980029361.
Timothy Peters and Silvia Tavares
28 June 2021 - 31 July 2024
Urban Design Solutions for Ameliorating Urban Heat Island Effect in Townsville
Townsville City Council
Grant no. 0980026737.
Karine Dupré and Silvia Tavares
24 June 2022 - 30 June 2024
How cool are our green urban forests?
Sunshine Coast Council (Australia)
Grant no. 0980027597.
Nicholas Stevens, Javier Leon and Silvia Tavares
29 November 2022 - 31 December 2023
Eye in the sky: high-resolution vegetation mapping and monitoring using drones
University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia, Sunshine Coast) - UniSC
Grant no. 0980027868.
Catherine Yule, Catherine Waite, Gareth Chalmers, Silvia Tavares, Romane Cristescu, Kathy Townsend and Javier Leon
22 June 2022 - 30 January 2023
Microgrid systems research: Exploring the impacts of microgrids within fringe of, or end of grid, Indigenous communities.
PLANZ Town Planners and Community Developers
Grant no. 0980027914.
Silvia Tavares and Nicholas Stevens
2 October 2020 - 31 August 2022
Green infrastructure for mitigating heat stress in aged care facilities
Queensland Department of Environment and Science (Australia, Brisbane)
Grant no. 0980026403.
Silvia Tavares and Claudia Baldwin
Teaching and supervision
Supervision
Masters Thesis Supervision - Current
Wind-Informed Structural Analysis to Support Thermal Comfort and Heat Responsive Missing-Middle Housing Designs in Queensland
Students: Research student (name withheld)
Associated Researchers: Nayomi Kankanamge and Silvia Tavares
2026
Doctoral Thesis Supervision - Current
Communicating Urban Climate Knowledge: Bridging the gap between science and the built environment professions
Students: Research student (name withheld)
Associated Researchers: Silvia Tavares and Nayomi Kankanamge
2025
Doctoral Thesis Supervision - Current
Exploring Creativity, PsyCap, and Resilience Among Australian Academic Staff.
Students: Research student (name withheld)
Associated Researchers: Christian M Jones, Saskia de Klerk and Silvia Tavares
2022
Doctoral Thesis Supervision - Current
Developing bioclimatic urban planning and design policy for the public realm
Students: Research student (name withheld)
Associated Researchers: Silvia Tavares and Nicholas Stevens
2021