Ladd Keith, Ph.D.

Tag: urban heat resilience

  • Planning for Urban Heat Resilience

    Planning for Urban Heat Resilience

    I am thrilled to share that Planning Advisory Service (PAS) Report 600: Planning for Urban Heat Resilience has been published by the American Planning Association! My co-author, Sara Meerow, and I argue that the planning profession has a critical role to play in equitably addressing increasing heat risk and lay out the steps communities can take to either start heat planning or improve their current efforts.

    An excerpt from our Executive Summary:

    Heat poses a growing and inequitable threat. Cities around the world must plan now to increase urban heat resilience in the face of climate change and the UHI effect. Planners are well positioned to use existing regulatory tools and plans to mitigate the inequitably distributed risk associated with the UHI effect, reduce greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change, and help prepare for extreme heat events. This PAS Report equips planners with the background knowledge, planning framework, and catalog of comprehensive approaches to heat mitigation and management they need to work effectively with colleagues across agencies and sectors and advance urban heat resilience in their communities.

    (Keith and Meerow, 2022 page 8)

    Our guidebook draws from the latest research on extreme heat and heat planning and includes practical examples and case studies that show how communities across the United States are planning for heat. It is an honor to have written APA’s first-ever comprehensive guidance on heat planning with Sara and we hope that planners, allied professionals, and community members find it a helpful resource.

    Planning for Urban Heat Resilience is available as a free download thanks to a grant from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

  • University of Arizona Panel on Urban Heat Resilience

    University of Arizona Panel on Urban Heat Resilience

    I was joined by several colleagues at the University of Arizona on a Wonder at Home panel to discuss urban heat resilience and its relevance in urban planning, public health, and housing:

    Heat is the number one weather-related killer in the U.S., yet receives far less attention than other climate risks. In this panel discussion, you will hear from faculty members and researchers how urban heat risk is an underestimated, yet increasing, climate risk in cities across the U.S. We will explore how cities are innovating to advance their urban heat resilience through the perspectives of urban planning, public health, and housing.

    Moderator:

    • Brian Adair, Director, Corporate Services, Research Development, Research, Innovation & Impact

    Panelists:

    • Mona Arora, Principal Research Specialist & Course Instructor, Department of Community, Environment & Policy, Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health
    • Mark Kear, Assistant Professor of Geography, School of Geography, Development, and Environment, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences
    • Ladd Keith, Assistant Professor, Planning and Chair, Sustainable Built Environments, School of Landscape Architecture & Planning, College of Architecture, Planning & Landscape Architecture

    More information on this panel discussion is on the University of Arizona Foundation’s event page.

  • Op-Ed: Cities must plan for heat resilience now

    Op-Ed: Cities must plan for heat resilience now

    With the increased attention to extreme heat events after the U.S. Southwest and then U.S. Pacific Northwest and Canadian heatwaves in June 2021, I wrote an op-ed piece on the urgent need to plan for heat resilience with Sara Meerow for the Reuters Thomson Foundation. A few short exceprts:

    Summer just started in the Northern Hemisphere, but cities everywhere have already been impacted by unprecedented extreme heat and must plan for heat resilience now.

    Urban planners and designers largely work in the area of reducing exposure to heat, while public health and emergency management focus on heat management. Cities should coordinate these strategies and ensure they are equitably distributed according to heat risk to avoid worst-case scenarios.

    Read the full op-ed piece: Cities must plan for heat resilience now.

  • An Equity-Focused Approach to Urban Heat Resilience

    An Equity-Focused Approach to Urban Heat Resilience

    Kizzy Charles-Guzman, Deputy Director of the New York City Mayor’s Office of Sustainability, gave the keynote public lecture for our Advancing the Theory and Practice of Urban Heat Resilience workshop in October 2020. The workshop was organized by myself and several colleagues, had the participation of the nation’s leading urban heat researchers and practitioners, and was generously hosted by the Aspen Global Change Institute. The workshop and its proceedings will lay the groundwork for the next decade of actionable science on urban heat resilience. A workshop summary and findings are forthcoming and Kizzy’s exciting public lecture was recorded and is available to view now if you missed it!

    Watch the Public Lecture