Thermal Toolkit to Help Designers Identify and Address Urban Heat Disparities
The 2023 LAF Research Grant in Honor of Deb Mitchell supported Heat Waves: Visualizing Thermal Disparities, a project to collect and analyze temperature data for Omaha, Nebraska, and develop a primer for designers to use commercially available tools to visualize urban heat.
A new, short video from SmithGroup highlights the recently completed work, as well as the significance of the grant in supporting research relevant to landscape architecture practice.
The research was led Salvador Lindquist from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Keenan Gibbons, PLA, from SmithGroup. It highlights how a variety of tools can be used to visualize and understand urban heat, and to target site-specific design solutions toward the areas and people who are most vulnerable. The culmination of their research, “Thermal Toolkit: Technologies and Techniques for Visualizing Heat” is available as downloadable PDF [42.9 MB].
In the Toolkit’s introduction the researchers state, “This research is really rooted in notions about health and resilience and in the ways that landscapes can provide respite from the increasing frequency of heatwaves. How do we [as designers and planners] begin to catalyze change and enable action? The first step is through recognition and in making apparent disparities visible by [finding ways] to better incorporate heat visualization methods into the design process.”
A major element of their research process was testing the tools for visualizing and representing the impacts of urban heat to determine which are most accessible for an average designer and most impactful for advocacy purposes. For example, Salvador in partnership with the City of Omaha used LandSat to look at metrics like average surface temperature and overlaid this with demographic data to identify the most vulnerable neighborhoods. The City of Omaha can use this data to strategically improve heat resilience by implementing targeted interventions.
The research team also tested UAV thermography (drones) in several locations in Omaha including Gene Leahy Mall. They used their results to describe the pros and cons of drone imagery, which provides much more detailed spatial information than other methods.
The Thermal Toolkit includes easy-to-follow descriptions of a range of heat visualization methods along with case studies of their use, including Landsat imagery, UAV infrared imagery, handheld thermal imaging, mobile meteorological instrument platform, vehicle-traverse collection, environmental stimulation, and community-led assessment. There is also a helpful glossary at the end of the report to summarize the basics.
The toolkit also offers an overview of how climate change is driving the increased frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, and how many cities are developing heat action plans. The authors compiled key heat resilience resources and a detailed list of specific heat adaptation and mitigation tactics with accompanying ratings for cost, public good, and GHG reduction potential.
The toolkit is an invaluable resource for landscape architects looking for actionable ways to identify, plan, design, and retrofit individual sites and districts to be more resilient to extreme heat. Sharing this information is critical, the researchers assert, because “Landscapes play a pivotal role in mediating urban microclimates, influencing temperature variations, and mitigating the impacts of extreme heat events. By understanding the dynamics of heat distribution within urban environments, landscape architects can design and implement strategies to optimize thermal comfort, promote public health, and enhance overall livability.”
Additional Resources
- The researchers presented their findings in an LAF webinar, Visualizing Extreme Heat Disparities, on Sept 5, 2024.
- Salvador and Keenan’s heat island work also attracted significant notice from the general public. They appeared in news segments on CNN and the Weather Channel in summer 2023.
