Harlem and Heat
Research conducted for Columbia GSAPP's Historic Preservation Studio II course and published for the Digital Heritage Documentation course.
Introduction
Environmental Justice (or, Injustice?)
An idea that a community should not have to deal with environmental problems, including pollution, lack of green resources, extreme urban heat island, odor, etc., just because they came from a certain race, origin, or income level.
Extreme Heat
The extreme temperature fluctuation, urban heat island, and heat-related illness contribute to one of the most prominent cases of environmental injustice.
The extreme heat problem is related to the temperature and heat vulnerability, considering the residents' ages, poverty level, living conditions, etc. This topic also covers the availability of cooling spaces in a specific area, whether they are sufficient or accessible for all different groups of people during extreme heat days.
This map shows the heat vulnerability of neighborhoods in New York City (darker color means higher exposure). It shows that certain areas are more susceptible to heatwaves than others, even though the overall temperature does not vary too much across the city.
New York City Heat Vulnerability
Why Harlem?
Based on the heat vulnerability map shown earlier, most parts of Harlem, especially Central Harlem and South Harlem, appear to have a higher risk during the summer. Some previous research has proved that Harlem is warmer during the heatwave, including this article from The New York Times.
Article discuss about heat in Harlem
There are multiple projects conducted to unveil further Harlem's heat vulnerability (as well as areas in its surroundings) and to provide mitigation solutions for the residents. Some of them are Harlem Heat Project, Addressing the Urban Heat Island through an Equity Lens: A Citizen Science Project, WeACT, AdaptNY, and many more.
Looking back at the history of heat vulnerability in Harlem, there is much evidence that this issue was recurring in the past. One newspaper article below showed how Harlem's residents used to sleep outdoor--in parks, on the rooftop, even on fire escape--to escape the heat during the night.
Article from New York Amsterdam News in 1931 showing Harlem's resident sleep outdoor during hot summer.
Method
Heat Prostration Map in Lieu of Heat Map
The project and research mentioned above are very valuable to provide better ideas of environmental justice in Harlem, but most of them only include contemporary data. To understand the root behind this issue, it is important to understand the history and background that contributed. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to find heat map or other resources in relation to heat in the past, which is understandable considering the developing technology for gaining datas in this topic.
Hence, the method used for this research utilized "heat prostration map," a map showing historic heat prostration victim across Harlem and areas in its surroundings. The points' address was gained through information listed in historic newspapers that reported heat death toll and prostration.
An example of a historic newspaper's article from the New York Times 1937 reporting heat prostration victim
It is important to note that this map was not made to incorporate all victim data throughout history considering the lack of author's capability and limited time. This map is merely aimed to show a particular pattern of heat victim that was reported and to give a better understanding on what possible factors behind those samplings.
The data collection was conducted in a randomized arrangement. The author has set up the following provision to ensure the information gathered was as randomized as possible: (1) The Time interval has to be between 1-3 years, (2) The period chosen was between 1880-1940 due to the data availability, (3) Keywords including “extreme,” “heat,” “prostration,” “death toll,” and “Harlem.”
Heat Prostration Map
Those that were reported in historic newspapers around Harlem and its surrounding neighborhood between 1880-1940
Year
The year which each victim was reported and published in the historic newspaper is shown in this page.
Victim's Condition
Shows whether they are reported death or survived after the prostration
Victim's Age
Shows the victim of heat not only consisted of elderly but also middle-aged people and even infants.
Vulnerability Based on Victim Density
Based on the number of heat prostration in the newspaper shown above, Central Harlem and East Harlem area have the biggest number of victim reported between 1880-1940, meaning that there is a big possibility that these areas are more vulnerable during the heatwave in summer.
Physical Factors
Lack of Trees
It was known that historically, Harlem had minimal numbers of trees on the street. The enforcement of tree bans in 1791 prohibited tree planting on the road due to them being perceived as a danger and obstacle for the passerby (McNeur 2014). While the ban was lifted in the 1830s, the 1995 tree census of Manhattan still portrays the Harlem area to have less tree density than the rest of the island (NYC Open Data 1995). The lack of shades on the street allows more sunlight penetration which causes warmer urban fabric, leading to extreme heat danger.
Lower Building Height
The arrangement of buildings did not help much in producing shadows considering that structures in Harlem mainly consist of residential buildings built between 1900 and 1940, generally lower in height (average 4.6 floors) compared to the new developments of the business area around lower Manhattan (average building in Manhattan has 6.3 floors) (Vant-Hull et al. 2018). Among the Harlem neighborhood itself, Central Harlem and South Harlem are documented to have lower buildings than West Harlem (Pluto Data n.d.), indicating a different level of extreme heat risk due to the various amount of shade produced during the daylight.
House Ventilation Issue
Another important note about structures is the interior living condition among residential buildings in Harlem. Based on research conducted by Indoor Light, Air, and Ventilation group, 48% of housing typologies documented in 1969 in Harlem were built during the establishment of Old-Law Tenements. This type of residential utilized 90% of the lot area for built space, with very minimal interior air shafts and narrow courts between buildings for ventilation purposes. This resulted in the lack of air circulation, which induced stagnant warm air to be trapped inside the rooms, increasing the Harlem residents’ vulnerability during the extreme heatwaves.
Minimal Public Spaces
The availability of open space in Harlem could indirectly affect the increasing heat vulnerability of this area. Before 1900, Harlem residents often utilized unused and undeveloped land as a public space in response to the unavailability of this type of facility in this neighborhood (Gill 2012, 256). These areas lacked infrastructures such as proper public space, namely cooling spots, benches, and trees, causing the public gathering to be unsafe due to the high heat exposure towards the event participants.
Unequal Distribution of Cooling Facilities
The cooling facility establishment portrays how the authority responded to the vulnerability and prostration reports and how equal the facility distribution is to mitigate extreme heat risk. One newspaper article from 1936 reported heat prostration casualties and the lack of public cooling facilities in Harlem. The caption says, “Cooling Spots for Grownups Hard to Find.” It noted the in-progress development of Colonial Park (now Jackie Robinson Park) and mentioned the facilities it will provide after the completion: pool, benches, and greenswards (New Amsterdam News 1936). Jackie Robinson pool is documented as the first public pool open for adults in Harlem, meaning that this type of cooling facility was not available before 1936. Considering that the first pool built in Manhattan was the West 60th pool developed in 1906, it shows how late the cooling facility and public space development in Harlem compared to the other area in the island.
Socio-Economic Factors
Description of possible Socio-Economic Factors Contributing to Heat Susceptibility
Gross Monthly Rent
The data shown is in dollars—cheaper houses usually correlated to no AC installed, lousy ventilation, worse facility, and many more disadvantages.
Gross monthly rent overlayed with heat prostration map.
Racial Distribution
Research says African-American has more susceptibility to heat risk
Racial distribution overlayed with heat prostration map.
