Ladd Keith, Ph.D.

Publications

Download my American Planning Association guidebook, Planning for Urban Heat Resilience, for free.

*Student advised ⁺Editor reviewed

Refereed Journal Articles

  1. Keith, Ladd and Sara Meerow. (Accepted, in publication). Our “Heatshed” Moment is Now. Cityscape. ⁺
  2. Jensen, Lauren*, Ladd Keith, Sara Meerow, Philip Berke, Erika Schmidt*, and Shaylynn Trego*. (Accepted, in publication). Planning to Mitigate Heat in Vulnerable Neighborhoods: Applying the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard™ for Heat in Two Boston Neighborhoods. Cityscape.
  3. Trego, Shaylynn*, Sara Meerow, Ladd Keith, and David M. Hondula. (Accepted, in publication). Heat mitigation and management in the City of Phoenix, AZ: A case study of America’s hottest large city. Cityscape.
  4. Ahn, Minwoo, Heidi E. Brown, and Ladd Keith. (2025). Rural heat health disparities: Evidence from the U.S. National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS). The Journal of Climate Change and Health. 22(2025), 100432. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2025.100432
  5. Watkins, Lance, Heidi E. Brown, Ladd Keith, Erika Austhof, Hsini Lin Cox, Samuel N. Chambers, Joseph Tabor, Aaron Gettel, and Melissa Guardaro. (2024). A co-produced workflow for addressing inequities in cooling center access. Community Science. 3(4), e2023CSJ000038. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023CSJ000038
  6. Roy, Malini, Ladd Keith, Mona Arora, Fatima Luna, and Julie Robinson. (2024). Coproducing Opportunities to Advance Extreme Heat Resilience in Southern Arizona. 105(11), E2070-E2077. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. https://doi.org/10.1175/BAMS-D-24-0216.1
  7. Amaripadath, Deepak, Alamin Molla*, Ladd Keith, and David J. Sailor. (2024). Multi-criteria decision support framework for outdoor heat stress management in urban environments in changing climates. Sustainable Cities and Society. 114(1), 105799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scs.2024.105799
  8. Meerow, Sara and Ladd Keith. (2024). Cities at the Forefront of Emerging U.S. Heat Governance. One Earth. 7(8), 1330-1334. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2024.07.013 ⁺
  9. Meerow, Sara, Ladd Keith, Malini Roy, and Shaylynn Trego*. (2024). Plan evaluation for heat resilience: Complementary methods to comprehensively assess heat planning in Tempe and Tucson, Arizona. Environmental Research Letters. 19(8), 084050. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/ad5d05
  10. Iuliano, Joseph E.* and Ladd Keith. (2024). Shifting Gears: A case study of bicycle planning and decision-making in Tucson, Arizona. Active Travel Studies. 4(1). https://doi.org/10.16997/ats.1506
  11. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, Lauren Jensen*, Shaylynn Trego*, Erika Schmidt*, and Philip Berke. (2023). Evaluating urban heat mitigation across networks of plans. Journal of Planning Education and Research. https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X231215780
  12. Trego, Shaylynn*, Sara Meerow, and Ladd Keith. (2023). Heat planning in small and medium-sized cities: A Collaborative application of PIRS™ for Heat in Kent, WA, USA. Socio-Ecological Practice Research. (5)4, 409-422. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42532-023-00166-6
  13. Keith, Ladd, C.J. Gabbe, and Erika Schmidt*. (2023). Urban Heat Governance: Examining the Role of Urban Planning. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. 25(5), 642-662. https://doi.org/10.1080/1523908X.2023.2244446
  14. Chambers, Samuel N., Heidi E. Brown, Ladd Keith, and Erika Austhof. (2023). Development of a Geographic Human Heat Balance Equation to Support Public Health Analyses: An Arizona Urban Sun Corridor application. Remote Sensing Applications: Society and Environment. 32(2023), 101009. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rsase.2023.101009
  15. Chambers, Samuel N., Geoffrey A. Boyce, Daniel E. Martinez, Coen Bongers, and Ladd Keith. (2023). The contribution of physical exertion to heat-related illness and death in the Arizona borderlands. Spatial and Spatio-temporal Epidemiology. 46(2023), 100590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sste.2023.100590
  16. Sami, Ida* and Ladd Keith. (2023). How do streetcar transit users and streetcar decision-makers perceive heat risk? Journal of Public Transportation. 25(2023), 100045. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubtr.2023.100045
  17. Hughes, Halley B.*, David D. Breshears, Kimberly J. Cook*, Ladd Keith, and Joseph R. Burger. (2023). Household energy use response to extreme heat evaluated with a biophysical model of temperature regulation: An Arizona case study. PLOS Climate. 2(4), e0000110. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pclm.0000110
  18. Crisman, Jonathan Jae-An, Ladd Keith, Ida Sami*, and Gregg M. Garfin. (2023). Designing Chill City: An interactive game supporting public learning about urban planning for extreme heat. The Journal of Environmental Education. 54(3), 225-239. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2023.2183173
  19. Iuliano, Joseph E.* and Ladd Keith. (2022). Near Misses and Split Routes: Comparing Rider Behavior, Driver Interaction, and Route Choice for Cyclists. Journal of Transportation Safety & Security. 15(11), 1148-1171. https://doi.org/10.1080/19439962.2022.2155745
  20. Brown, Heidi E., Ladd Keith, Valerie Madera-Garcia*, Anissa Taylor, Nicholas M. Ramirez, and Irene Ogata. (2022). Greening up for mosquitoes: A comparison of green stormwater infrastructure in a semi-arid region. Journal of the American Mosquito Control Association. 38(2), 109-112. https://doi.org/10.2987/21-7055
  21. Meerow, Sara and Ladd Keith. (2022). Planning for extreme heat: A national survey of U.S. planners. Journal of the American Planning Association. 88(3), 319-334. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2021.1977682
  22. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, David M. Hondula, V. Kelly Turner, and James C. Arnott. (2021). Deploy heat officers, policies and metrics. Nature. 598(7879), 29-31. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02677-2 ⁺
  23. Keith, Ladd, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, Erika Austhof, Ida Sami*, and Mona Arora. (2021). Extreme heat at outdoor COVID-19 vaccination sites. The Journal of Climate Change and Health. 4(2021), 100043. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100043
    • Keith, Ladd, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, Erika Austhof, Ida Sami*, and Mona Arora. (2021). Response to correspondence on “Extreme heat at outdoor COVID-19 vaccination sites”. The Journal of Climate Change and Health. 4(2021), 100073. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joclim.2021.100073
  24. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, and Tess Wagner*. (2019). Planning for extreme heat: A review. Journal of Extreme Events. 6(3&4), 2050003. http://doi.org/10.1142/S2345737620500037
  25. Austhof, Erika, Vjollca Berisha, Ben McMahan, Gigi Owen, Ladd Keith, Matthew Roach, and Heidi E. Brown. (2020). Participation and Engagement of Public Health Stakeholders in Climate and Health Adaptation. Atmosphere, 11(3), 265. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11030265

Refereed Monograph

  1. Keith, Ladd and Sara Meerow. (2022). Planning for Urban Heat Resilience. Planning Advisory Services (PAS) Report 600. American Planning Association. http://www.planning.org/publications/report/9245695/

Refereed Monograph Section

  1. Keith, Ladd. (2022). Adaptation to Urban Heat in Tucson. In Matt Bucchin and Aaron Tuley (Authors), Planning for Climate Mitigation and Adaptation. Planning Advisory Services (PAS) Report 601. American Planning Association (APA). (pp. 113-115). https://www.planning.org/publications/report/9250330/

Refereed Technical Reports

  1. Pinto, Izidine, Clair Barnes, Sjoukje Philip, Sarah Kew, Ruth Cerezo-Mota, Arielle Tannenbaum, Shel Winkley, Andrew Pershing, Maja Vahlberg, Carolina Pereira Marghidan, Karina Izquierdo, Sajanika Sivanu, Ladd Keith, Michael Kleeman, and Friederike E L Otto. (2024). Extreme heat killing more than 100 people in Mexico hotter and much more likely due to climate change. World Weather Attribution (WWA). https://doi.org/10.25561/112370
  2. West, Maddie, Julie Arrighi, Hunter Jones, Ladd Keith, Kim Knowlton, Rupa Kumar Kolli, Andreas, Matzarakis, Jason Lee, Chao Ren, Audrey Tan, and Abhiyant Tiwari. (2023). Reporting on Heatwaves and the Health Impacts of Heat. Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN). https://ghhin.org/press/.
  3. Iroz-Elardo, Nicole, Ladd Keith, Kristi M. Currans, Ashley Avila*, Lauren Heath*, Brenden J. Little*, Ethan C. Wissler*, and Andrew J. Birkelbach*. (2023). Assessing Cool Corridor Heat Resilience Strategies for Human-Scale Transportation. NITC-RR-1483. Portland, OR: Transportation Research and Education Center (TREC).
  4. Shumake-Guillemot, Joy (Ed.), Sulfikar Amir, Nausheen Anwar, Julie Arrighi, Stephan Böse-O’Reilly, Matt Brearley, Jamie Cross, Hein Daanen, Francesca de’Donato, Bernd Eggen, Andreas Flouris, Nicola Gerrett, Werner Hagens, Alina Herrmann, Maud Huynen, Hunter Jones, Ladd Keith, Aalok Khandekar, Jason Lee, Rachel Lowe, Franziska Matthies-Wiesler, Marie Morrella, Nathan Morris, Claudia Di Napoi, Anindrya Nastiti, Ian Norton, Lars Nybo, Elspeth Oppermann, Roop Singh, Lesliam Quiros-Alcala, Anouk Roeling, Ana M. Rule, Gerardo Sanchez Martinez, Joris van Loenhout, Peter Van Den Hazel, Kirsten Vanderplanken, and Benjamin Zaitchik. (2020). Protecting Health from Hot Weather during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Global Heat Health Information Network (GHHIN). http://www.ghhin.org/heat-and-covid-19/

Non-Refereed Technical Reports

  1. Keith, Ladd, Meerow, Sara Meerow, Malini Roy, Shaylynn Trego*, Lindsey Jordan*, Kavana Sadashive Gowda*, and Karli Barrett*. (2024). Plan Evaluation for Heat Resilience: City of Nogales, AZ. Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL) – Arizona State University and University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/674048
  2. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, Malini Roy, Shaylynn Trego*, Lindsey Jordan*, Karli Barret*, and Kavana Sadashive Gowda*. (2024). Plan Evaluation for Heat Resilience: City of Mesa, AZ. Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL) – Arizona State University and University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/674047
  3. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, Malini Roy, Shaylynn Trego*, Karli Barrett*, Lindsey Jordan*, and Kavana Sadashive Gowda*. (2024). Plan Evaluation for Heat Resilience: City of Flagstaff, AZ. Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL) – Arizona State University and University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/674046
  4. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, Malini Roy, Shaylynn Trego*, Kavana Sadashive Gowda*, Karli Barrett*, and Lindsey Jordan*. (2024). Plan Evaluation for Heat Resilience: City of Casa Grande, AZ. Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL) – Arizona State University and University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/674045
  5. CLIMAS. (2024). Principles and Practices for Ethical Socially Engaged Research. University of Arizona, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS). https://climas.arizona.edu/sites/climas.arizona.edu/files/2024-05/CLIMAS%20ethical%20principles%20may%202024_5-20-24.pdf
  6. Meerow, Sara, Ladd Keith, Malini Roy, Shaylynn Trego*, Erika Schmidt*, Jack Haskins*, and Bryan Leyba*, and Lindsey Jordan*. (2023). Plan Evaluation for Heat Resilience: City of Tempe, AZ. Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL) – Arizona State University and University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/670109
  7. Trego, Shaylynn*, Sara Meerow, Ladd Keith, Erika Schmidt*, Bryan Leyba*, and Lindsey Jordan*. (2023). Plan Evaluation for Heat Resilience: City of Phoenix, AZ. Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL) – Arizona State University and University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/670044
  8. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, Malini Roy, Shaylynn Trego, Erika Schmidt, Jack Haskins, and Bryan Leyba. (2023). Plan Evaluation for Heat Resilience: City of Tucson, AZ. Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory (SW-IFL) – Arizona State University and University of Arizona. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/669877
  9. Brown, Heidi E., Ladd Keith, Sam Chambers, Kristina M. Currans, Erika Austhof, Cheyenne R. McChesney. (2023). Cooling Center Walkshed & Transit Accessibility Analysis. A Report for the Arizona CDC Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) project. University of Arizona.
  10. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, Shaylynn Trego*, and Erika Schmidt*. (2022). City of Tempe, AZ: Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard™ (PIRS™) For Heat. https://repository.arizona.edu/handle/10150/666700
  11. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, Shaylynn Trego*, Erika Schmidt*, Lauren Jensen*, Philip Berke, and Joseph DeAngelis. (2022). City of Kent, WA: Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard™ (PIRS™) for Heat. https://www.planning.org/media/document/9260042/
  12. Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, Philip Berke, Joseph DeAngelis, Lauren Jensen*, Shaylynn Trego*, Erika Schmidt*, and Stephanie Smith*. (2022). Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard™ (PIRS™) for Heat: Spatially evaluating networks of plans to mitigate heat (Version 1.0). https://www.planning.org/publications/document/9257652/
  13. Chambers, Samuel N., Heidi E. Brown, Ladd Keith, and Erika Austhof. (2022). Summary of Body Heat Storage Layer Development. A Report for the Arizona CDC Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) project. University of Arizona.
  14. Von Ohlen, Kurt*, Heidi E. Brown, Ladd Keith, Erika Austhof, Lance Watkins, and Sam Chambers. (2022). Summary of Pima County Cooling Center Spatial Optimization. A Report for the Arizona CDC Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) project. University of Arizona.
  15. Keith, Ladd, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, Ida Sami*, and Erika Austhof. (2021). Extreme Heat at Outdoor Vaccination Sites: Banner South (Kino) Report. University of Arizona.
  16. Keith, Ladd, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, Ida Sami*, and Erika Austhof. (2021). Extreme Heat at Outdoor Vaccination Sites: Tucson Medical Center (TMC) Report. University of Arizona.
  17. Keith, Ladd, Nicole Iroz-Elardo, Ida Sami*, and Erika Austhof. (2021). Extreme Heat at Outdoor Vaccination Sites: UArizona POD Report. University of Arizona.
  18. Keith, Ladd, Pegy Brimhall, Jill Allen Dixon, Chanceé Lundy, Riki Nishimura, Lauren McKim Callaghan, and August Williams-Eynon. (2020). Dallas, Texas: Tornado Recovery Emphasizing Urban and Climate Resilience around the Walnut Hill/Denton Drive Dallas Rapid Transit Station. Urban Land Institute, Advisory Services. http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16222.77126
  19. Meadow, Alison M., Jeremy Weiss, Sarah LeRoy, and Ladd Keith. (2020). Climate Profile for the Verde Valley. University of Arizona, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS). https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.15258.26566
  20. Keith, Ladd, Ben McMahan, and Tess Wagner*. (2019). Urban heat island maps and decision making. University of Arizona, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS). http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.35788.49282
  21. Meadow, Alison M., Jeremy Weiss, Sarah LeRoy, Ladd Keith, Sharon Hausam, Ellu Nasser, Sascha Petersen, Alex Basaraba, and Nyssa Russell. (2019). Climate Profile for the Pueblo of Laguna. University of Arizona, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS).
  22. Keith, Ladd, Michelle Beaman Chang, Jason Bonnet, Samia Byrd, John Macomber, Michael Rodriguez, Susannah Ross, Matt Steenhoek, Byron Stigge, Jay Valgora, Lauren McKim Callaghan, and Leah Sheppard. (2019). Miami, Florida: The Riverfront, the Bayfront, and the Ridge – A Holistic Approach to Waterfront Resilience. Urban Land Institute, Advisory Services. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21986.27849
  23. Meadow, Alison M., Sarah LeRoy, Jeremy Weiss, and Ladd Keith. (2019). Climate profile for the Highlands at Dove Mountain. University of Arizona, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS). http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.16389.83684
  24. Meadow, Alison M., Sarah LeRoy, Jeremy Weiss, and Ladd Keith. (2018). Climate profile for the City of Flagstaff, Arizona. University of Arizona, Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS). http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.20826.70083
  25. Keith, Ladd, Marcel Acosta, Amitabh Marthakur, Neal Payton, Jamie Simchik, Julie Underdahl, Cassie Wright, Paul Angelone, Alex Schoeder, and Clay Holk. (2018). Jacksonville, Florida: Leveraging Transit for Economic Development. Urban Land Institute, Advisory Services. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.12758.80960
  26. Taylor, Marilyn J., Zelalam Adefris, Janice Barnes, Matthijs Bouw, Dennis Carlberg, Justin Chapman, Tracy Gabriel, Mariane Jang, Ladd Keith, John Macomber, Molly McCabe, Cynthia McHale, Christine Morris, Jim Murley, Josh Murphy, and Phil Payne. (2018). Ten Principles for Building Resilience. Urban Land Institute. http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.12653.95203
  27. Gurol, Kamuron, Ladd Keith, Shane Farthing, Richard Henderson, Anita Morrison, Carlos F. Perez, Jodi Slick, Alejandro Villegas, Katharine Burgess, Paul Angelone, and Leah Sheppard. (2016). El Paso, Texas: Active Transportation System. Urban Land Institute, Advisory Services. http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.29536.02568
  28. Heid, Jim, Margaret Kaigh Doyle, Tracy Gabriel, Ladd Keith, Alan Razak, Michael A. Stern, Lindsey Willke, Sarene Marshall, Beth Silverman, and Paul Angelone. (2015). St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana: Bridging the Divide with the South Central Study Area through Resilience. Urban Land Institute, Advisory Services. http://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.14017.10084

Op-Eds

  1. Keith, Ladd. (2022). Extreme heat is here. Here’s how we create a heat-resilient nation. Smart Cities Dive. July 13, 2022.
  2. Keith, Ladd and Andrea K. Gerlak. (2021). There’s no place in the US safe from the heat. The Hill. August 20, 2021.
  3. Keith, Ladd and Sara Meerow. (2021). Cities must plan for heat resilience now. Thomson Reuters Foundation. July 5, 2021.

Other Publications

  1. Boyer, Anne-Lise, Minwoo Ahn, and Ladd Keith. (2025). Expanding the Focus: Toward Heat Equity in Rural Areas. Just Rural Futures. February 22, 2025.
  2. Meerow, Sara and Ladd Keith. (2023). Growing Heat Hazards from Climate Change and the Urban Heat Island Need to Be Integrated Across Siloed Urban Plans. Here’s How. The Nature of Cities. June 21, 2023.
  3. West, Maddie and Ladd Keith. (2023). Creating Cool and Resilient Communities: Integrating Plans for Urban Heat Mitigation. Global Heat Health Information Network. May 30, 2023.
  4. Meerow, Sara and Ladd Keith. (2022). Heat Risks are Rising in Cities Worldwide — Here Is How to Plan for Urban Heat Resilience. The Nature of Cities. June 13, 2022.
  5. Keith, Ladd and Sara Meerow. (2021). Urban Heat Resilience. Planning Advisory Services (PAS) QuickNotes 95. American Planning Association (APA). https://www.planning.org/publications/document/9219132/
  6. Keith, Ladd and Sara Meerow. (2021). Beat Extreme Heat with These 8 Tactics. Planning Magazine. Winter 2021, 12-14.