Melburnians living in the western, inner northern and southeastern suburbs are most at risk to the dangers of heatwaves.
The suburbs most affected by heatwaves include Sunshine, St Albans, Glenroy, Coburg, Preston, Reservoir, Clayton and Dandenong according to Monash University's new heat vulnerability map.
The Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities professor Nigel Tapper said the map identified areas based on risk factors including housing types, age, health and socio-economic status of the population.
"Our research found a clear association between suburbs with extreme heat vulnerability and the number of hospital emergency visits or ambulance callouts on extremely hot days," Mr Tapper said.
"Key factors that raised the risk of sickness or death in heatwaves included older people living alone, ethnicity and the proportion of land covered by buildings."
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Paramedics were called to almost 500 heat-exposure cases during the heatwave last month while a Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) report linked 374 deaths to the 2009 heatwave leading up to Black Saturday.
Chief executive of the Water Sensitive Cities (CRC) Professor Tony Wong said green initiatives such as planting trees and providing water could reduce radiant temperatures and health risks.
"Prior research found daytime shading provided by street tree canopies improves human comfort by significantly reducing mean radiant temperatures," Prof Wong said.
"Urban street tree monitoring has shown that during Melbourne's heatwaves, a person's physiological equivalent temperature can be up to 18 degrees lower near midday in areas with tree canopy shading."
