Reduce the urban heat impacts of public buildings, sites, and infrastructure and provide resiliency co-benefits.
Best Practice of this action
Rating Guideline
 |
Use observation and data to identify specific locations of heat vulnerability in the community (such as large areas of asphalt pavement, multi-family buildings with minimal shade, lack of boulevard tree canopy, high-traffic heavily-paved areas with lots of vehicle exhaust). |
 |
Comprehensively assess options to reduce urban heat and improve air quality in advance of planned maintenance, repair or construction of local roads. Take preventive action to complete at least one installation (such as: cool/pervious pavements, higher albedo coatings, increased road-side vegetation including resilient tree species, or efficient timing/sensors for stoplights), also incorporating stormwater BMPs as applicable. |
 |
Comprehensively assess options to reduce urban heat and improve air quality in advance of planned construction, maintenance or replacement of roofs, sidewalks/patios, parking lots/ramps, and landscaping/vegetation for new and existing city-owned buildings, structures and sites. Take preventive action to complete at least two installations (such as: cool or vegetative "green" roofs, cool/pervious pavements, or a meaningful increase in vegetative cover including resilient tree species), also incorporating stormwater BMPs as applicable. |
Resources
- Urban Heat Severity for US Cities (Trust for Public Land) shows where certain areas of cities -- at a 100' level -- are hotter than the average temperature for that same city as a whole, using data from 2018 and 2019.
- View the Extreme Heat Map Tool for land surface temperature data for the Twin Cities metro area. The tool allows users to view results of hypothetical implementation interventions such as targeted tree planting.
- EPA's Heat Island Effect program provides mitigation strategies.
- Adapting to Urban Heat: A Tool Kit for Local Governments provides guidance for increasing cool roofs, green roofs, cool pavements, and urban forestry.
- See the GreenStep best practice Urban Forests and Soils for background, benefits and resources for trees, and best practice action 17. 5 for green infrastrucure resources.
Order Number
6
Action Type
Finite