Cool It With Art: Creative Response to Heat

Heat is among the deadliest weather hazards and a growing threat to community health. As our planet warms, communities should expect hotter summers and more frequent and severe heat waves. The impacts of heat waves are not felt equally. Inequities that contribute to health disparities also translate to extreme heat exposure. Heat vulnerability correlates with community characteristics such as housing conditions, existing tree cover, and access to spaces with indoor cooling (e.g. air-conditioned public libraries) or outdoor cooling methods (e.g. public pools or splash pads).

The Cool It With Art guide outlines creative strategies to mitigate and prepare communities for rising temperatures and risks associated with extreme heat events. Strategies include creative communications, engagement, and cooling infrastructure. Cool It With Art gives planners an overview of heat risks and their impacts on community health and well-being, why art and artists should be engaged to tackle rising temperatures, and how to implement creative projects to mitigate and prepare for extreme heat. Artists and planners, some of whom developed the guide, animate the conversation with their own experiences developing arts interventions in extreme-heat events.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Foundational. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.