Article in AZ Republic re: ever increasing heat island (Phoenix: homes, neighborhood)

[DougStark]

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ys/1058557001/

Praise for the County supervisor for bringing this up and making it a priority. The writing is on the wall--We need to create a LOT more shade for future years if this metro is going to still be considered desirable.

I've posted previously about the steps the City of Sacramento has done with their "shade ordinances." I wrote the supervisor about Sacramento's Shade Tree efforts (supplied a link for him.) Haven't heard back from him yet tho.

[ajonesaz]

Get rid of the black rubberized asphault too

[More Rock]

I recommend this short, well-made podcast on a/c and urban design

https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/thermal-delight/

[Hschlick84]

ADOT should do away with the rubber pavement and use just grooved concrete on the interstate.

[simbared]

Originally Posted by DougStark

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ys/1058557001/

Praise for the County supervisor for bringing this up and making it a priority. The writing is on the wall--We need to create a LOT more shade for future years if this metro is going to still be considered desirable.

I've posted previously about the steps the City of Sacramento has done with their "shade ordinances." I wrote the supervisor about Sacramento's Shade Tree efforts (supplied a link for him.) Haven't heard back from him yet tho.

Culver City, CA created an Urban Forest Master Plan. It is available online if you are interested:

https://web.culvercity.org/files/Cul...aster_Plan.pdf

[DougStark]

Originally Posted by simbared

Culver City, CA created an Urban Forest Master Plan. It is available online if you are interested:

https://web.culvercity.org/files/Cul...aster_Plan.pdf

'

Thanks! I'll check it out. A city's forest canopy is very important to me in my list of priorities for a metro. Phoenix needs a lot of work on that regard.

[ajonesaz]

Originally Posted by DougStark

'

Thanks! I'll check it out. A city's forest canopy is very important to me in my list of priorities for a metro. Phoenix needs a lot of work on that regard.

Phoenix has an urban forest plan in the works as well

https://www.phoenix.gov/parkssite/Do...20A%202010.pdf

[hikernut]

It would certainly be nice to have shaded walking paths, and a lot more shade for parking lots.

The main feeder street for our neighborhood has pretty nice shade trees along both sides. I can walk our dogs along that (N-S oriented) street and be in the shade most of the way. This makes it bearable, if not pleasant, even in the hottest months when I can't even let the dogs walk on paved areas that are in sunlight.

The huge asphalt parking lots at most shopping malls are like a blast furnace in the summer. I try hard to avoid them except early in the morning, and after dark. A few grocery stores in Chandler have some shade structures, which makes it more bearable.

As far as planting/trimming/watering enough trees to impact the urban heat island. Well, that's pretty hard for me to imagine. I'll guess there's a lot more low hanging fruit (no pun intended) to harvest, like better selection of materials/colors for hardscape areas, painting the tops of buildings white, etc.

[Pretzelogik]

https://www.census.gov/newsroom/pres...7/cb17-44.html It keeps biggering and biggering so it will get more and more of the heat island effect.

[Prickly Pear]

The only way to stop the heat island is to stop building cheap ugly cookie cutter single family homes in the exurbs and repeating those same cookie cutter homes for miles on end. If we had an urban growth boundary like Portland or something we wouldn't be having this discussion. Nor would we paying for over 500+ square miles of large parking lots and asphalt covered roads. It'd still be hot here, but not nearly as hot.