Cool Neighborhoods

Los Angeles is particularly vulnerable to heat-related health issues; they are one of the only US metro areas with heat-related emergency room visits and deaths in the winter. Due to climate change, the region is experiencing a greater number of extreme heat days when the peak temperature exceeds 95⁰F. In some of the hottest neighborhoods, annual extreme heat days are expected to double within the next 20 years. When high daytime temperatures warm up the built environment, the residual heat is released throughout the night into neighborhoods, inhibiting the ability to rest and renew residents from the heat experienced during the daytime. StreetsLA is at the forefront of using smart surfaces to reduce urban heat. The City of Los Angeles leads California in both cool roofing materials and cool roadway treatments; these interventions can enable roof and roadway surfaces to reflect more of the sun’s light and heat back into space rather than being absorbed as heat. Cool streets have led to cool neighborhoods: projects where StreetsLA installs cool pavement coating on multiple blocks and plants shade trees in all available planting locations along these streets. The first Cool Neighborhood project was installed along Stephanie Drive in the Winnetka neighborhood of the west San Fernando Valley. In May 2019, Cool Seal was applied on 11 residential blocks, and approximately 60 new shade trees were planted. Partnering with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, StreetsLA was able to use images from the ECOSTRESS thermal camera aboard the Internal space station to measure the effectiveness of the Winnetka Cool Neighborhood Project. On average, places within 100 meters of the cool pavement were 2⁰F cooler than the surrounding parts of Winnetka. Subsequently, StreetsLA installed additional Cool Neighborhood projects in Pacoima, Sun Valley, and South Los Angeles, using cool pavement coatings from three different suppliers. After this session, participants will be able to:
• Recognize what the City of Los Angeles is doing to combat urban heat.
• Identify new techlogy available to combat urban heat.
• Determine how to engage with elected officials to enhance urban heat projects through public works.