A Cold Shower is Not Heat Resilience

With global temperatures rising due to climate change, there's a call to reconsider urban neighborhood infrastructure. Who better to help build urban heat resilience than the people already living in those communities?

In"Necessary Considerations When Framing Urban Heat Resilience as an Infrastructure Issue" (Journal of American Planning Association, Vol. 90, No. 3) Theodore C. Lim uses participatory action research to highlight opportunities for planners to implement heat interventions in urban communities struggling with rising temperatures.

Infrastructure Issue

Lim's first step is reframing urban heat nonresilience as an infrastructure issue. By reframing heat, people can connect their personal experiences with structural issues that can be addressed through collective action. This approach is part of an emerging area of planning theory and practice known as reparative planning.

While other weather-related impacts are visible in public spaces, heat-related deaths and struggles often occur privately. In conversations with middle school students in Roanoke, Virginia, the author heard how wide roads and a lack of tree shade make for a hot neighborhood, even after sunset.

Beyond the Cold Shower

Research conversations revealed a shift in perceptions from heat being an individual issue — solved by air conditioning or cold showers — to one caused by infrastructure and land use decisions. This shift redirects discussions on heat resilience toward advocating for neighborhood improvements.

Reparative planners can engage with heat-vulnerable communities by creating access to resources and clarifying the processes for infrastructure project implementation. Lim urges planners to think deeply about infrastructure practices by examining how diverse community partnerships can help serve and improve the quality of life in urban neighborhoods.

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