How to (Re)Build Your City for Extreme Heat
The extreme heat of Summer 2024 is here, so resharing my piece from 2023’s epic heat. Reducing fossil fuel use is the real #1 task, but we urgently need to make places livable in the meantime, too.
https://deftspacelab.com/how-to-rebuild-your-city-for-extreme-heat/
#HeatWave #heat #urbanism #climatechange #climateaction
1) Trees, trees, trees to reverse...
How to (Re)Build Your City for Extreme Heat | DeftSpace
...heat island, create shade, lessen ozone production
2) Shade structures, especially at bus stops and where people walk or gather
3) Green spaces in every neighborhood, for a respite from the heat
4) Schools, public buildings, churches as cooling centers in every neighborhood
5) Renewable power and microgrids to keep the power on during outages – especially at those cooling centers
6) Light-colored roofs. This alone is...
...shockingly effective! Also rooftop solar
7) Insulate and weatherize buildings
8) Bring back the porch. Creates shade, shades windows, creates cooler pocket next to wall
9) Borrow building ideas from hot climates: colonades, courtyards
10) Build with...
...thicker walls: structural insulated panels (SIPs) but also masonry, adobe, straw bale…
11) Transportation without combustion, because engines > heat and smog. Bikes, walking, EVs, micromobility and transit without combustion
12) Orient buildings to maximize airflow from wind. In the US, generally winds come from the west/southwest in summer
13) Use awnings outside windows
14) Rethink public...
Definitely Doc D