Oct. 3, 2024
This story is part of the "Tech Tools" series, created in collaboration with APA's Technology Division. From climate resilience to mobility to tools that help plan for uncertainty, we highlight topical datasets, applications, and other tools that help planners understand — and better plan for — their communities. The authors thank Molly Mowery, AICP, the chair of the American Planning Association's Hazard Mitigation and Disaster Recovery Division, and Patricia Solís, executive director of the Knowledge Exchange for Resilience at Arizona State University, for their review of this article.
The impact of extreme heat is intensifying due to climate change and rising temperatures, affecting rural and urban communities alike. Extreme heat is exacerbated by the urban heat island effect.
Heat-related deaths rose by an estimated 117 percent in the U.S. between 1999 and 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Yet many U.S. regions still lack comprehensive heat plans or have yet to integrate heat into planning efforts. Communities with high exposure to extreme heat and with increased socioeconomic and spatial vulnerability are disproportionately affected. This situation is further intensified by multiple compounding elements, including the historical barrier of extreme heat not being declared a major disaster.
The urgency of this issue, along with national goals and agency collaboration, was highlighted in the 2024–2030 National Heat Strategy, which emphasizes the need for coordinated planning across all scales. And while planners play a key role in addressing these gaps and advancing heat adaptation strategies, they often face barriers such as insufficient localized data to inform decision-making, inadequate heat-specific regulatory provisions, limited funding for heat mitigation, or lack of political will.
4 digital tools to consider
Several tools and datasets are emerging with the potential to enable planners to analyze and present data on the impacts of extreme heat. By leveraging these resources, planners can better visualize and communicate heat risks to their communities and build a strong case to overcome intervention obstacles and ultimately foster more heat-resilient communities.
Image courtesy of Community Resilience Estimates for Heat.
Community Resilience Estimates for Heat
Data | Visualizer | Analysis
The U.S. Census Bureau's Community Resilience Estimates (CRE) for Heat is an experimental dataset that measures social vulnerability and exposure to extreme heat at the household level. Developed with Arizona State University Knowledge Exchange for Resilience, it uses census data to assess factors like air conditioning availability and employs small-area modeling techniques. My Community Explorer is a mapping tool that visualizes the CRE for heat vulnerability data at state, county, and community levels. Planners can use these features to develop community needs assessments, vulnerability maps, inform heat-resilient building codes, allocate air conditioning assistance resources, and support data-driven heat action plans and funding applications.
Cost: Free
Resource formats: Geospatial data, static and interactive map
Coding skills required: No
Image courtesy of the CDC Heat and Health Tracker.
CDC Heat and Health Tracker
Data | Visualizer | Analysis | Dashboard | Aggregator
The CDC Heat and Health Tracker presents localized information on public health impacts of extreme heat and can help to better allocate resources to prepare for heat events. The tool includes heat burden data (historic heat-related illness, heat-related emergency department visits, and heat-worker health), heat exposure trends, and a spatial index tool identifying heat effects by ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA). The HeatRisk dashboard offers real-time risk by zip code and includes heat safety actions. The tool is useful in the development of targeted strategies for locating emergency resources such as cooling centers, prioritizing green infrastructure projects, guiding weatherization programs, and designing heat-resilient transportation networks, with a focus on vulnerable populations.
Cost: Free
Resource formats: Geospatial data, tabular data, static and interactive map
Coding skills required: No
Image courtesy of NASA's Extreme Heat Data Pathfinder.
Extreme Heat Data Pathfinder
Data | Visualizer | Analysis
NASA's Extreme Heat Data Pathfinder is a central repository hosting multiple datasets that guide users to relevant near–real-time data for analysis and visualization. Based on NASA's remote sensing capabilities, it provides access to downloadable temperature, humidity, land cover, weather, and socioeconomic data. A forum for users provides interaction with NASA experts and case studies. The tool can help planners and others make data-informed decisions about land use patterns that influence heat vulnerability. The tool is specifically helpful for the development of master plans and plans for land use, hazard mitigation, climate resilience, and sustainability.
Cost: Free
Resource formats: Geospatial, temporal
Coding skills required: Yes
Image courtesy of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program.
LIHEAP Extreme Heat Dashboard
Data | Visualizer | Dashboard | Aggregator
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Extreme Heat Dashboard can help planners connect extreme heat and energy needs. An interactive map visualizes historic trends of extreme heat days and links counties with data from the CDC's Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, U.S. Census Bureau's population facts, and the Environmental Protection Agency's environmental justice indices. A dashboard aggregates yearly state and national health impacts and includes tabular data of heat-related deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits. Both resources can inform decisions on energy assistance allocation, cooling center placement, community driven resilience hub planning, and strategies to improve thermal comfort in vulnerable communities.
Cost: Free
Resource formats: Geospatial data, tabular data, interactive map
Coding skills required: No
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