Climate-Resilient Housing Research in Australia: A Comprehensive Review

Abstract

Australia’s residential sector faces mounting climate adaptation challenges. Residential buildings contribute over 10% of national carbon emissions and are increasingly exposed to intensifying extreme weather events, including bushfires, floods, and heatwaves. While previous reviews have examined specific mitigation strategies or impacts of individual hazards, no synthesis has traced how climate-resilient housing research has evolved across multiple hazard types and design approaches in the Australian context. This study addresses this gap through a longitudinal analysis of 36 peer-reviewed articles (2009–2025) identified via Scopus and analyzed thematically. The findings reveal a significant paradigm shift: early research (2009–2018) focused predominantly on energy efficiency and carbon mitigation through passive design and building performance optimization, whereas the recent literature (2019–2025) emphasizes comprehensive adaptation frameworks integrating hazard-specific resilience strategies, technological innovations, and socio-political considerations. This synthesis identifies emerging priorities, informing future research agendas and evidence-based policymaking for climate adaptation in Australia’s residential sector.