Housing, households and climate change adaptation in the town camps of Alice Springs

Abstract

This chapter explores the adaptive capacity of Indigenous households using the case study area of the town camps of Alice Springs in central Australia. Jurisdictionally, Alice Springs is in the Northern Territory where, over the last 50 years, the frequency of extremely warm days and nights has increased and the average annual maximum temperature has increased by 0.12°C per decade and the minimum temperature by 0.17°C per decade. The town camps of Alice Springs comprise 18 communities of Aboriginal people located around this principal town in central Australia. Using social practices for comfort as a way of understanding how households adapt to changing climate and other dynamic factors arou..