Cooler Communities for All: Designing Equitable Heat Solutions - 1.0 PDH (LA CES/HSW)

Extreme heat is the deadliest of all weather-related disasters and creates acute and chronic health risks. Dangerous heat also impacts low-income and underserved communities the most, given these communities have far less tree canopy. Learn about the evidence for equitable, nature-based solutions to reduce temperatures. Discover how to visualize thermal disparities and implement impactful designs from the city to neighborhood scales.

Learning Objectives:

• Recognize how extreme heat disproportionately impacts low-income and historically marginalized communities.  

• Understand how to use data and visualization tools to highlight areas of high heat vulnerability within communities.  

• Gain practical knowledge on planning and designing sites and communities through nature-based solutions that reduce temperatures and increase resilience.  

• Explore how landscape architects collaborate with cities and community-based organizations to communicate extreme heat data to create heat-resilient communities.

Image above: Heat map of Omaha, Nebraska / Salvador Lundquist and Keenan Gibbons