Research Team | PI: Sara Meerow and Ladd Keith; Graduate Research Assistant: Tess Wagner
Description | The planning profession is uniquely situated to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat. Yet until recently, efforts to plan for extreme heat have been limited. Given the increased focus and urgency of extreme heat risk, we conducted a survey of U.S. planning professionals from geographically diverse communities representing a range of population sizes. The goal of this survey was to better understand how heat risk perceptions, current planning activities, and barriers to action vary across the country. To our knowledge, our survey is the first nationwide assessment of extreme heat planning. The results will be useful for researchers, urban planners, emergency responders, policymakers, and climate service providers. This will establish important baseline information for a growing area of planning practice and scholarship.
Publications
- Meerow, Sara and Ladd Keith. (2021). Planning for extreme heat: A national survey of U.S. planners. Journal of the American Planning Association. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944363.2021.1977682
- Keith, Ladd, Sara Meerow, & Tess Wagner. (2020). Planning for extreme heat: a review. Journal of Extreme Events, 6(03n04), 2050003. https://doi.org/10.1142/S2345737620500037
Media coverage
- Brodie, Mark. “City planners have tools to deal with heat. A new survey finds many may not be using them.” KJZZ’s The Show. February 4, 2022.