Experts Discuss How Greener, Smarter City Planning Can Protect Homeless People from Extreme Heat
The Urban Heat Island Effect, a phenomenon that causes city sidewalks to be approximately 9+ degrees Fahrenheit hotter than those in surrounding suburbs, is wreaking havoc on the unsheltered homeless community.
Invisible People reporters recently spoke with Kate Pocock, PA-C, a member of the street medicine outreach team who has hands-on experience treating unsheltered homeless people sustaining injuries and even death due to extreme heat. The strenuous impact could not be understated. Pocock described cases ranging from critical burns and cardiac arrests to respiratory complications and pregnant women going into premature labor.
The Urban Heat Island Effect Can be Deadly for America’s Homeless Population
Homeless people account for a disproportionate number of heat deaths each year. In the hottest cities, they usually make up more than half of all heat-related deaths. For the surrounding community members, this translates to morbidities, overcrowded and under-resourced emergency room facilities, and a drastic seasonal drop in communal health outcomes.
The urban heat island effect is a distinctly citified problem that stems from the urban blueprint—how we tend to build modern metropolitan centers. Like homelessness, higher temperatures are literally built into the infrastructure of many cities.
Consider, for a moment, the towering skyscrapers that stretch across the horizon as soon as you cross a bridge into a major city. Layers of glass act like curtains around the metal framework, structuring the building like a lighthouse constantly drawing in the sun. These quasi-lighthouses sit on the surrounding concrete sidewalks, which are notoriously void of greenery and far from any bodies of water.
Here, we see each city street is isolated from the elements of nature and covered in lighthouse-like structures that capture the sun and hold that heat in the concrete below, hence the term “island.”
Reducing Homelessness and the Urban Heat Island Effect Is Possible if We Change the Way We Build Our Cities
Authors from the Science Direct publication “Reducing Heat Risk for People Experiencing Unsheltered Homelessness” state that policy changes must be made to address what they call “thermal inequity” in the unsheltered community. By combining qualitative research with street interviews, the scientists came to the following conclusion:
“The most important strategy for reducing the unhoused population’s heat risk is housing provision, and interim approaches include outdoor spaces for unhoused people designed with heat considerations in mind, as well as inclusive air-conditioned indoor spaces.”
Strategic city planning has been suggested to prevent new heat islands from popping up in cities across the country. The United States Environmental Protection Agency, for example, recommends the following actions:
- Planting trees and vegetation
- Covering rooftops with greenery is said to absorb pollutants, increase shade, and lower the temperatures of buildings
- Prioritizing sustainable and eco-friendly projects over developments that might be harmful to the environment
- Making use of cool pavement technologies, including a new, innovative technique known as “grass paving” and more
Kate Pocock is familiar with the research, and she contributed her knowledge and expertise in an exclusive discussion with Invisible People.
“There’s a great study that I talk about that says you can drop a temperature by nine degrees Fahrenheit by increasing greenery in an urban setting,” Pocock said. “And so that inclusive, lived environment being built into urban planning certainly has the potential for wonderful benefits.”
“At USC, we have a group of architects and urban planners who talk a lot about inclusive built environments for people experiencing homelessness. They’ve studied it themselves as well, so they’re well-versed on the subject and they know how to implement these strategies,” she continued. “This could be a real, actionable solution with multiple stakeholder groups involved…”
However, according to Kate, there is a problem.
NIMBYism Poses an Obstacle to Building Better Cities
“There are things that can be done, but it is a little bit difficult from a political standpoint,” Pocock said. “It might sound hard to believe, but there are folks who don’t want these things in place, who’d rather not have the greenery, who essentially don’t want the environment to be more hospitable for their unhoused neighbors, especially in this post-Grants Pass, Supreme Court setting that we find ourselves in.”
Pocock spoke of the growing concern of NIMBYism and the toll it is taking, not only on our unhoused neighbors but also on our cityscapes.
Imagine a teeming metropolis with a cool summer breeze covered in green rooftops and eco-friendly sidewalks.
Imagine the soft aroma of herbs and flowers rising over the foul smell of smog that sifts through the air from the refineries.
Imagine shady cityscapes where bountiful gardens can grow.
Now imagine millions of people who don’t want that just because they prefer the harshest possible environment for homeless people.
Talk to Your Legislators About Building Eco-Friendly Cities and Affordable Housing
When it comes to building our cities, we draw from a tired, ancient model where affordable housing is sparse and eco-friendly solutions are not considered. Better options exist that will serve us all with a brighter future, one where unsheltered homelessness does not have to exist at all.
Tell your legislators it is time to change how we build our cities. Let them know you seek sustainable, actionable, and non-punitive solutions to the homeless and climate crises and that your vote depends upon them.
