Household adaptation in Aboriginal public housing: a social practice approach

The paper traces recent changes to household infrastructure and tenancy management procedures in the town camps of Alice Springs and reports on changing social practices of town camp residents in the context of climate change adaptation. It is drawn from a wider study and forms part of the National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) funded project "Living Change". The project examines social practices and town camp resident memories of dealing with hot and cold weather and extreme weather events, including heat, cold, storm and flood. Specifically, within this, the focus for this paper is upon dealing with hot weather, in the context of increasing temperatures, heat waves and hot weather related events. Focussing on how residents deal with heat and hot weather conditions, the project utilises a social practice methodology to highlight developments in household practices and community resilience to predicted climate change.