How urban planners are working to reduce heat. Thermal imaging shows how hot surfaces get.
With temperatures soaring this week, residents in Cambridge, Massachusetts are doing whatever they can to beat the heat. For many, that means less time outside.
"I'm out in this for 10 minutes to walk the dog and then I go home and it's shower time," a Cambridge resident said.
Amid the heat wave, public parks with splash pads have been a reprieve for families seeking relief.
"I'm here Monday through Friday," said Emily Ortiz, a young woman enjoying the splash pad at Dana Park.
As climate change continues to push urban temperatures higher, experts are exploring long-term strategies to make city living more tolerable. Kishore Varanasi is a principal designer at CBT, a firm focused on creating cooler public environments.
136 degree surface temperature
Using thermal imaging, Varanasi demonstrates just how hot urban surfaces can become.
"You can see here the surface is measuring 136 degrees Fahrenheit, but the air temperature is 88 degrees," he said. "So, if I bring it to the shade, you see that it matches the air temperature."
Varanasi said that the excessive heat is due to the way cities have been historically designed.
"What makes cities hotter is everything that we've built. The air conditioners spitting out heat, the materials that we've used, the asphalt, cars," Varanasi said. "All of it makes cities 10 to 15 degrees hotter."
Combating urban heat
To combat the urban heat island effect, Varanasi and his team are working with urban planners to redesign spaces by introducing more shade and using materials like special concrete mixes that retain less heat.
"We also have other alternatives to create shade," he said. For example, you can use structures, like the one at Cambridge Crossing. "It is a part of the park, but it is shaded so on days like this you can be in this space and feel comfortable," he said.
It is an effect that can be felt, with temperatures decreasing up to 40 degrees under his shaded structures.
As extreme heat becomes more common, Cambridge's push for cooler, shaded spaces may serve as a model for other urban areas grappling with rising temperatures.