Heat has long been part of everyday life in Singapore. However, rising temperatures and urban heat
island (UHI) effect are intensifying thermal conditions in ways that increasingly strain residents’
comfort, health, and household energy demand. This report presents findings from Working Group 1:
Population Household Study, conducted under the project Leveraging Shared Experience of Urban
Heat and Bridging Spatial–Temporal Dissonance: Towards a Climate Resilient Citizenry (CRC) in
Singapore. The study examines how households perceive, experience, and adapt to heat within the home
environment.
Study Design and Scope
Data were collected from 1,009 individuals from 416 households across 10 planning areas, spanning all
public housing dwelling types in Singapore. The methodology included:
• Household survey capturing dwelling characteristics, domestic thermal conditions, cooling
devices, and consumption patterns.
• Individual surveys assessing climate knowledge and attitudes, heat experiences and cooling
behaviours, social norms, and risk preferences.
• Home environmental audit recording objective indoor microclimatic measurements (e.g.,
temperature, wind speed, dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperature) and unit-level spatial layout
conditions.
Key Findings
• Climate change is widely recognised and linked to rising temperatures, yet a gap remains between
this broad awareness and lived heat experiences, with limited understanding of localized drivers
of urban heat such as UHI.
• Climate concern and personal responsibility are high, but everyday climate actions tend to remain
low effort, revealing a persistent gap between awareness and practice.
• Household cooling behaviours vary significantly, with daytime reliance on fans and natural
ventilation and night-time reliance on air-conditioning, alongside substantial differences across
individuals and households.
• Cooling access and vulnerability to heat are uneven, with seniors, smaller units, and rental
households reporting more heat-related disruptions and fewer cooling options.
• Indoor microclimates differ considerably between households, and indoor temperatures and wind
speeds often diverge from outdoor readings, underscoring the importance of in-situ home
measurements for understanding lived heat exposure.
• Awareness of the national Climate Vouchers scheme is high, but redemption (within the first six
months of access) remains modest and primarily directed toward lower-cost appliances.
Population Household Study
Implications for Policy and Design
• Improve thermal literacy and practical heat communication, particularly around UHI and effective
heat adaptation at home.
• Support households with higher thermal vulnerability, including seniors, public rental units, and
low-income families, through improved access to cooling options and awareness of healthy cooling
practices.
• Promote energy-efficient cooling behaviours, balancing comfort and efficiency, especially given
strong night-time reliance on air-conditioning.
• Enhance passive cooling potential by enabling residents to make better use of natural ventilation
where feasible.
• Refine financial incentives to increase relevance, accessibility, and uptake, ensuring that schemes
effectively address household cooling needs.
Contribution to the CRC Programme and Next Steps
The population household study (Working Group 1; WG1) established the empirical baseline for
subsequent CRC work:
• Ethnographic Household Study (WG2): Anchoring qualitative work in population-level patterns
to triangulate and identify key themes on social dynamics shaping heat resilience.
• Citizen Dialogues (WG3): Guide the design of dialogues by identifying key knowledge, concerns,
and adaptation gaps to be explored collectively.
• Co-Design Workshop and Field Experiments (WG4): Provide baseline and inform the design of
targeted interventions.