Heat Waves: Visualizing Thermal Disparities
As global temperatures climb, our cities are overheating to life-threatening levels. How can we adapt and change the ways we build our communities to reduce these dangerous heat impacts?
New research funded by the Landscape Architecture Foundation (LAF) shows how we can use innovative technologies and techniques to visualize and better understand urban heat – and to target impactful, site-specific design solutions for the areas and people who are most vulnerable. In the video featured here, Keenan Gibbons (SmithGroup) and Salvador Lindquist (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) share the compelling results of their research along with LAF CEO Barbara Deutsch.
Salvador and Keenan collected and analyzed temperature data for three different areas of Omaha, Nebraska. Building on Keenan’s previous SmithGroup Exploration Grant work, they used drone-based and ground-level thermal visualization tools to measure the localized impacts of heat. They were able to pinpoint specific temperatures in different materials and different areas within the same block – and evaluate the potential of nature-based and other design solutions to mitigate extreme heat.
The result of their 18-month investigation is an open-source Thermal Toolkit for planners, designers and policymakers. It provides a valuable resource for making better-informed decisions in designing cooler as well as more just and equitable cities – targeting the extreme heat seen in formerly redlined communities. The data from their fieldwork is also supporting the City of Omaha’s climate action and resilience plan.
Their Thermal Toolkit is available on the LAF’s website and can be downloaded here.