Building Community Heat Action Plans Story by Story: A Three-Neighborhood Case Study

Increasing urban temperatures pose a public health threat, especially for the poor, those with pre-existing health conditions, and those living in areas with little to no vegetation. In many cities, there is a disparity among neighborhoods with respect to access to cooling benefits in the urban landscape. Municipal-wide spending for cooling interventions can be socially and geographically inequitable, residents may be unable to afford to operate cooling systems, and underserved communities are less likely and/or able to advocate for heat-reducing solutions. Here we present the Nature’s Cooling Systems project’s community engagement methodology, which aims to empower underserved communities, identify and create community leaders, and build awareness about heat-reducing solutions to shift those dynamics.

The Nature’s Cooling Systems project tackles heat at the neighborhood scale to collaboratively develop heat action plans that reflect local knowledge and community identity. The methodology was piloted in three neighborhoods in the metropolitan Phoenix area in partnership with community residents, The Nature Conservancy, Arizona State University, community-based organizations, city officials, and the county public health department. A series of workshops were developed, and demonstration projects undertaken to improve public health outcomes and provide better thermal comfort in the hottest and highest-need neighborhoods. Examples of solutions proposed by residents include creating cooler pedestrian routes, developing a community tree program, adding shade stops at intervals throughout the community, and developing a heat safety training program. This participatory process will serve as a model for community-driven heat mitigation and adaptation planning for other neighborhoods and cities facing increasing heat and is applicable to municipal climate planning initiatives. The success of this project is in not just generating an outcome document, a regional heat action planning guide with neighborhood heat action plans, but also in the process that increases engagement and awareness over time.