Darwin Living Lab at the Darwin Show

The Darwin Living Lab delivered a successful exhibit at the 2024 Royal Darwin Show. The Show attracted an estimated 47,500 people over the three days (25 – 27 July), which provided the opportunity to engage with the community from Darwin and beyond on heat mitigation and cooling.

The exhibit showcased how the Darwin Living Lab is working with partners to monitor and evaluate approaches for a more liveable, sustainable and resilient city. Attendees experienced innovative approaches to keeping cool, such as the use of a misting fan, with a thermal camera used to visualise the cooling effects. 

Attendees also had the opportunity to participate in citizen science activities. This included a ‘greening your home’ activity, which 430 participants signed-up for. These participants received a native plant to take home and will undertake several follow-up surveys over the coming year to record how the plant is establishing and report any challenges or observed benefits. This will provide a valuable dataset that can inform future community greening initiatives.

There was a thermal comfort survey, which asked people indicate people to indicate satisfaction with their thermal comfort. Responses were compared to a micro-climate station to understand how different people experienced environmental conditions and trends in perceived thermal comfort over the Show.

The Darwin Living Lab exhibit was an important opportunity to connect our research with community knowledge and expertise, while raising visibility and awareness of heat mitigation projects completed or underway across Darwin as part of the Darwin City Deal. The efforts of the team were recognised with  third prize for the best Government Stall.