Extreme Heat Policy Toolkit

While South Florida is often referred to as “ground zero” for sea level rise, flooding is not the only climate hazard impacting our coastal communities. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, heat kills more people each year than any other kind of extreme weather. ¹  As global surface temperatures rise, Miami now has 77 more days a year above 90°F than it did in 1970. Projections show an average of 200 days annually with a heat index over 90°F by late century if no action is taken. ²   

Building upon work the  University of Miami’s (UM) Office of Civic and Community Engagement (CCE)  completed in 2020 (MAP 3.0,  Resilience Policy Toolkit ) assessing the impacts of sea-level rise on Miami’s affordable housing and low-income populations, CCE broadened its lens to address the impacts of extreme heat, particularly on historically marginalized populations.   

Extreme heat issues will not change overnight. Whereas nighttime temperatures historically decreased as the sun set, Miami is experiencing more warm nights where the temperature does not decrease enough to allow people, animals and plants to cool down and recover from heat and humidity. This natural phenomenon coupled with communities grappling with historic development patterns, racist housing policies, and infrastructure disinvestment paints a bleak picture if continued unabated. Even with swift action on climate change from this moment forward, there is already considerable damage to our atmosphere and extreme high temperatures will continue to impact Miami. Urgent policies, resources, programs, and information that address extreme heat are critical now to ensure a livable Miami for all with a particular focus on our most at-risk communities.  

“In Miami, high heat combines with humidity to reduce labor productivity, leading to losses of over USD 10 billion under current conditions—more than Miami-Dade County’s annual budget. By 2050, without action to reduce emissions or adapt to increased heat, losses could double to more than USD 20 billion.” - Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center Report on Hot Cities, Chilled Economies ³ 

To better equip communities and decision makers with information and solutions that could improve local responsiveness to these global conditions, we researched heat-related planning solutions from across the country and identified those that could be considered in Miami.  We identified existing gaps in information, innovative cross-industry approaches to heat mitigation, all considered with the overarching priorities of equitable implementation. Community engagement and stakeholder outreach was essential to understanding barriers community advocates are facing, local issues in adopting heat health focused policies, what tools are missing for front line workers, and where research from universities can be more useful to community needs.  Most importantly, we analyzed what current policies, resources, and information is falling short in addressing health inequity as it pertains to extreme heat. 

The intersection of extreme heat and affordable housing raises a number of equity issues. While extreme heat is the deadliest natural hazard, it is also one of the most preventable. ⁴  This is true only when everyone has access to the resources and materials needed to stay cool and safe.

As our  fact sheet  details, areas of Miami that were historically redlined by racist housing and development policies are now experiencing higher temperatures. ⁵  Housing location, job type, access to transportation, and proximity to health facilities are all social determinants of health that disproportionately expose low-income communities of color to extreme heat through many aspects of everyday life. ⁶  Solutions to current extreme heat issues must acknowledge factors of social inequality across the County. Miami must prioritize heat mitigation strategies that center and empower marginalized communities who face the highest energy costs and extreme heat exposure.

Communities with high rates of asthma, COPD, and other respiratory conditions due to living in close proximity to major highways, airports, factories, and other pollutants are particularly susceptible to heat-related illness and death. This environmental injustice is exacerbated by income inequality from reduced access to higher wages, educational attainment, and jobs with upward mobility. Low pay coupled with high housing costs leads to higher housing, energy, and healthcare cost burdens for low-income communities. These cost constraints require Miami-Dade residents to make complex decisions about basic human necessities, such as paying housing costs versus medical care for the month.   Investment in community infrastructure such as public cooling spaces, job training programs, community health centers, and energy efficient housing developments prioritize human safety and support in traditionally marginalized communities. We also recognize that community investments can exacerbate gentrification and displacement concerns, further increasing social and economic divides.

As climate challenges continue to mount, a more targeted analysis of existing conditions and proposed enhancements is critical to assess how climate resiliency planning and investments impact marginalized communities. Miami neighborhoods with higher elevation experience displacement pressures from climate gentrification forces whereby property values and costs soar for a limited supply while the market slows for the coastal areas where sea-levels are rising. Areas of extreme heat are the next frontier for potential displacement, with concerns that haphazard, broad-stroke mitigation investments could similarly impact threatened neighborhoods and compromise residents’ ability to remain the communities they have built.   As climate challenges continue to mount, a more targeted analysis of existing conditions and proposed enhancements is critical to assess how climate resiliency planning and investments impact marginalized communities. Miami neighborhoods with higher elevation experience displacement pressures from climate gentrification forces whereby property values and costs soar for a limited supply while the market slows for the coastal areas where sea levels are rising. Areas of extreme heat are the next frontier for potential displacement, with concerns that haphazard, broad-stroke mitigation investments could similarly impact threatened neighborhoods and compromise residents’ ability to remain the communities they have built. It is essential to put in place policies that present displacement of existing residents as green investment makes historically marginalized communities more attractive to outsiders.

The mission of CCE is to enhance university-community collaborations by engaging the university’s academic resources in the enrichment of civic and community life in South Florida. Stakeholder and community engagement is integral to this mission as our community conversations inform the direction , and application of locally sensitive research and policy tools developed by CCE.   A robust expert advisory stakeholder group convened on a quarterly basis over the past two years to guide the direction and focus of the CAMP work program. Nearly 50 stakeholders with experience locally and nationally in municipal leadership, climate science, meteorology, public health, urban planning, community development, and other disciplines contributed to rich, cross-disciplinary conversations.  

Once this work had progressed sufficiently to solicit comments and feedback, we convened a series of community engagement workshops hosted in collaboration with the  South Florida Community Development Coalition (SFCDC) . We held five sessions for both in-person and virtual engagement to which we invited non-profit community partners, local municipalities, and other individuals who have expressed an interest in using or improving our mapping tools. These sessions were structured as open conversations to enable idea exchanges and recommendations for enhancements to the tools in process. These community engagement sessions are a critical element of all of our mapping initiatives and help to match community needs, wishes, and use cases to the development of data tools. Prior to embarking on the community engagement workshops, we hosted a user testing workshop to better understand the opportunities and challenges of the user interface of MAP to inform the design of this newest iteration.   

In addition to conducting our own engagement efforts, we also attended many local, state, and national convenings on extreme heat mitigation and urban resiliency to gather information, strategies, and best practices from a variety of experts and advocates. The intention is with this policy toolkit, along with the newest updates to the  Miami Affordability Project (MAP)  and our  other policy and data resources , can contribute much-needed information, data, policy recommendations to the public that will catalyze tangible action towards mitigating extreme heat impacts in Miami-Dade County.  

Our accompanying Communications Toolkit delves deeper into our processes of stakeholder engagement, research development, and community outreach. It provides a blueprint for other communities and institutions wishing to engage with a diverse group of stakeholders and decision-makers in similar collaborations focused on equitable climate resiliency to what we have been able to successfully build over the years in South Florida. With 34 individual municipalities within its borders and state law limiting certain local actions, Miami-Dade County is a challenging case study of complex municipal structures, competing priorities, local challenges, overlapping policies, and fractured governance that can stymie even the most seemingly straightforward initiatives. A climate resiliency issue like extreme heat requires a range of hyper-localized neighborhood action to county-wide changes which can make policy changes and community engagement a tedious and confusing process through varying levels of government. Yet no matter the complexities, population size, or geographical differences, our intention is to offer materials that support communities of all sizes facing any number of climate challenges to work together to collectively seek resonant, achievable, and equitable climate resilience solutions.  

Toolkit Segments and Organization

This toolkit is organized into policy recommendations and best practices in four categories: Individual, Housing Unit, Neighborhood, and City/County Wide. Each section will begin with a description of the category, specific issues faced, and barriers to progress at that level. By starting at the level of an individual's experience and zooming out more broadly to the county level, we can pinpoint how issues of heat and equity impact and intersect at multiple levels.  Interventions at each level from granular to macro have interdependencies that can have benefits across the spectrum; a coordinated effort that addresses the entire spectrum is needed to meet these interconnected challenges. The scale and breadth of policy actions may be more appropriate at a certain moment in time but all contribute to the larger whole. Identifying utility assistance programs for individual low-income housing units may be an easier political “lift” in certain communities while longer-term zoning changes to reduce urban heat islands can have wider reaching benefits but require longer-term strategizing and judicious use of the bully pulpit.

Policy Categories

Upon consultation with academic research, local government initiatives, and broader thought leadership addressing extreme heat and climate change issues, we identified five key subcategories that should be analyzed under each spatial category: Resources & Programs, Public Policy, Data & Information Transparency, Community Engagement and Best Practices. The information included in each subcategory is designed to offer residents and local governments ways to engage with current solutions towards addressing extreme heat impacts and also highlight recommendations to consider climate and health equity.

This subcategory outlines some of the existing local resources and programs but is not exhaustive. Importantly, two community-based actions out of many are highlighted for suggestions that could be explored to address extreme heat risks. The provision of efficiently targeted community resources and public-private partnership programs are important to mitigate extreme heat issues for residents, organizations, and business entities.

This subcategory suggests policies that can be implemented to mitigate extreme heat impacts with a concise explanation about how such policies benefit broader efforts to address intersecting climate goals. Effective public policy can address both environment and equity.

This subcategory draws attention to gaps in knowledge about extreme heat. A combination of research and community-driven needs is critical to meet extreme heat mitigation goals in an equitable manner. Data and community input can be used to create hyper-localized metrics that support targeted, effective action on heat issues.

This subcategory suggests how to best implement community engagement strategies, utilize community input, and support community agency in addressing extreme heat impacts. Fostering community empowerment through impactful community engagement to address climate and health risks associated with extreme heat relies on filling communication gaps and implementing community suggestions.

Examples of equitable approaches to extreme heat are provided to show a comparative study for how similar action could be taken in Miami. ⁷ 

Intervention Type

In several categories, different types of intervention suggestions will be given for specific structural changes to the built environment: • Gray interventions relate to changes in buildings and infrastructure systems. • Green interventions integrate vegetation in buildings and infrastructure systems. • Blue interventions integrate water bodies in buildings and infrastructure systems.

All of Miami-Dade County shares one climate, although how people experience heat individually can be drastically different. Children, the elderly, people who are pregnant or have chronic health conditions, outdoor workers and athletes, and low-income communities are especially vulnerable to heat-related illness and death. ⁸  While some of these factors of vulnerability are physical, other factors are financial and social. A history of systemic racism and ongoing inequalities have left predominately Black communities physically hotter, more housing and energy cost burdened, and less likely to have access to necessary healthcare. ⁹  Vulnerable populations and those highly exposed to extreme heat need to have resources readily available in the face of Miami’s rising temperatures.

What does it mean to be energy insecure? ¹⁰  Energy insecurity includes economic, physical, and behavioral barriers to meeting household cooling needs that results in marginalized communities facing disproportionate amounts of health hazards throughout heat season. ¹¹  Understanding and mitigating energy insecurity is crucial to combating individual vulnerabilities to heat. Families should not have to choose between turning on the air conditioning or paying rent for the month. A combination of rising rent prices, utility bills, food costs, and temperature places enormous burden on low-income communities with scant resources to cover all necessary expenses. Access to central air-conditioning and the financial resources to adequately use it during high heat days is a main factor in reducing heat-related mortality. ¹²  Energy burden is over 2x as high for low-income communities compared to the median in Miami-Dade County. ¹³  Equitable, innovative solutions to extreme heat conditions should address these immediate cost concerns.

While this toolkit and MAP focus more broadly on affordable housing considerations, livability issues cannot be removed from the experiences an individual has outside of their home as these inform the resources they will need to stay cool and recover in their home. For example, people who rely on public transportation to navigate the city have greater exposure to extreme heat conditions and need infrastructure considerations that minimize overheating risks from home to their destination. It is of particular importance to highlight specific populations vulnerable to extreme heat and to be intentional in the creation of policy and engagement strategies that address and ameliorate root causes of inequity.

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Current Resources

 Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)   Emergency Home Energy Assistance for the Elderly Program (EHEAP)   Florida Power & Light Care to Share   Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT)   Environmental Enhancement and Education Grants   Climate, Heat, and Health | Continuing Medical Education by Baptist Health South Florida  

Community-Based Action

Outdoor workers are highly vulnerable to extreme heat-related illness and death. WeCount!, a non-profit organization based in Homestead, is leading a local worker-driven  Que Calor Campaign  for more labor protections to decrease the exposure to extreme heat on the job. Farm workers are particularly exposed to high temperatures and direct sunlight. There is a large concentration of farm workers in rural areas of Miami-Dade County near Homestead. They commonly reside in axillary units or low-income rentals and face poor housing conditions, energy burden, and inability to escape chronic heat fatigue.

South Florida has some of the hottest prisons in the country. ¹⁴  Incarcerated individuals face extreme temperatures in prisons due to lack of air conditioning and ventilation. The  Beat the Heat Challenge , a mobile interactive workshop by  Florida Cares Charity , aims to raise awareness of conditions inside confinement and advocate for reform through partnering with local churches, schools, public libraries, and other community facilities.

• Earmark additional local funding for individual energy cost assistance through supplementing LIHEAP and EHEAP to create additional pathways for households during high heat days similar to other natural disaster-related nutrition and unemployment assistance to ensure people do not cut back on necessary air conditioning because of cost burden • Diversify cost assistance types and connect residents already participating in LIHEAP or EHEAP to weatherization funding, updated air condition units, critical unit repair services, and other energy efficiency measures to help deliver resources to those most affected by energy cost burden • Implement safety regulations ¹⁵  for industries and government entities employing outdoor workers such as minimal shaded rest time requirements, access to water, and mandatory heat health training for supervisors and employees • Leverage public-private partnerships to support community-based aid programs that distribute cooling items and safety materials to at-risk individuals such as air conditioning units, fans, outdoor shades, cooling cloths, window covers, and emergency water supplies • Require extreme heat trainings for Miami-Dade County Public School students, outdoor athletes, teachers, coaches, and other employees to be able to recognize and treat heat-related illness

• Collaborate on pathways to collect detailed information ¹⁶  on indoor temperature conditions in households across the County to help inform solutions to different degrees of risk, barriers to adaptation, and priorities for individual and housing unit assistance • Increase data creation and sharing on health outcomes of vulnerable populations and highly exposed communities through partnerships with local healthcare facilities to raise awareness for identifying heat-related illness and improving health reporting mechanisms that reflect climate conditions. • Conduct holistic studies of exposure to extreme heat that consider housing, transportation, occupation, and healthcare access to better understand the factors that lead to chronic heat exposure and the socio-economic barriers to reducing exposure • Incorporate citizen science to collect local knowledge of extreme heat experiences in the home that can raise awareness and cover gaps in publicly available data ¹⁷ 

Building effective connections to ensure that all households are informed and prepared to manage high heat days is critical to preventing serious illness and death. Systemically overlooked communities facing the most challenges to addressing extreme heat, such as energy burden, are often not targets of public education campaigns and participatory processes to alleviate these challenging conditions. Community engagement at the individual level should be explored to:

• Increase public awareness about heat-related illness and access to local resources by leveraging grassroots relationships in neighborhoods most at–risk/underserved and through locally specific educational multimedia campaigns and materials offered in English, Spanish, and Haitian Creole at minimum
• Consider partnerships with the Miami-Dade Offices of Housing Advocacy, Equity & Inclusion, and other County departments to address the risks at the intersection of extreme heat exposure and housing unaffordability and to help residents secure financial assistance in alleviating rent and energy burdens

Phoenix, AZ -  Greater Phoenix Heat Action Planning Guide   The Heat Action Planning core team chose neighborhoods in the Greater Phoenix area to engage with that were directly impacted by a variety of heat-related issues such as relatively high surface temperatures and energy burden. Active community-based organizations helped bring together the municipal core team and local residents of the selected neighborhoods to maximize community engagement and voices in the planning process. Workshops encouraged storytelling from residents, the core team, and advisors to identify problems within local communities and determine implementable actions that could address elevated concerns. Heat Action Plan drafts and frameworks were generated from these workshops and resident storytelling session to propose heat action priorities and solutions to city officials and county planners. Maricopa County, AZ also studies and hosts working groups on energy insecurity involving a variety of community stakeholders.

New York, NY –  Cool Neighborhoods NYC: Heat Adaptation Strategies   New York’s adaptation strategies contain a range of approaches to specifically address the needs of highly vulnerable communities and demographics. The city created heat risk training modules for home health aides to identify patients who are at high-risk for heat-related illness and death with strategies to prevent these from occurring. The Be a Buddy NYC initiative is a community-led preparedness model that aims to create buddy systems in heat-vulnerable neighborhoods among community organizations, volunteers, and at-risk New Yorkers to conduct telephone, door-to-door, and building-level checks on individuals who may be at greater risk for heat-related illness or death. Using information from resident focus groups, the city is working with medical reporters and meteorologists to create heat-related health messaging on the impacts of heat and tips to combat it, especially for more heat-vulnerable communities. Using survey responses from residents, the city is adapting its LIHEAP policies to better assist qualified households in paying utility bills related to the operation of air conditioners to combat heat effects.

Developing affordable housing that addresses climate impacts is a growing, interconnected challenge in Miami-Dade County as both rent prices and temperatures continue to rise. As much of the housing stock ages, older homes and rental units are not equipped to handle rising temperatures or were not constructed to optimize energy efficiency. ¹⁹  These housing infrastructure issues occur especially in low-income communities where deferred maintenance and rising upkeep costs contribute to energy burden. ²⁰  Efforts to construct and retrofit affordable housing to be energy efficient and adaptable to extreme heat are crucial for both the physical and financial health of County residents. ²¹ 

Equitable weatherization strategies ensure wider access to infrastructure improvements, and reductions in social inequality and financial burdens when updating housing units. ²²  Weatherizing housing infrastructure comes with a range of capital costs and requires innovative policy solutions and strategic implementation to consider the needs of renters, homeowners, property owners, and lenders. Public-private partnerships are important mechanisms to finance housing stock transition and equitable access to heat-safe and energy efficient homes. While heating regulations for cooler northern climates have been on the books for decades, there are no federal, state, or local ordinances that require air conditioning in rental units in tropical climates such as South Florida’s. ²³  As temperatures continue to rise, access to air conditioning is a structural housing unit feature necessary to ensure a safe, inhabitable, and healthy living space here in Miami-Dade County. The lack of requirements for functioning air conditioning in housing units increasingly exposes low-income households to the dangers of extreme heat compounded with other structural elements that lead to warmer temperatures in the home. ²⁴  

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Current Resources

 Weatherization Assistance Program   Home Rehabilitation Programs   SolSmart– South Florida Regional Planning Council   SEER Loans - Help Landlords Improve Rental Property Energy Efficiency & Health   Keep Safe Miami Program  (Part of  Keep Safe Florida )

 P.E.E.R. Group Equitable Weatherization Clinic    Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) Program         Green Building Expediated Plan Review - Residential 

Community-Based Action

 Solar United Neighbors  and  Miami-Dade County , along with other community partners, launched a solar co-operative initiative to help homeowners reduce their energy costs and carbon footprint in April 2022. Community solar programs like this lower the cost barriers to clean energy access and fuel job creation in new energy markets. Transitioning to solar energy allows individuals to save money on their housing unit long-term while also assisting in a broader regional effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions caused by other forms of electricity production.

 The South Florida Community Development Coalition  (SFCDC) brings developers, community members, funders, advocates, and local government leaders together to co-create community development solutions rooted in equity. Through policy roundtables, workshops, collective actions, advocacy agendas, and ongoing community partnerships, SFCDC works towards building and maintaining climate resilient, affordable, and inclusive housing unit options across Miami-Dade County. They are currently launching a  Spring 2023 Capacity Building Institute: Small-Scale Developer Series  to support emerging multifamily housing developers underrepresented in the housing sector.

• Require property owners to provide functional air conditioning equipment in rental housing units as part of the Owner’s Responsibilities under the County’s Minimum Housing Standard Code ²⁵  • Include extreme heat adaption strategies in the design of new and redeveloped publicly-subsidized housing projects • Prioritize hottest neighborhoods and most energy-burdened communities for retrofitting and weatherization with a focus on immediate, zero to low-cost unit updates that improve energy efficiency • Incentivize gray and green interventions in affordable housing construction that mitigate extreme heat impacts through cool roofs, shaded windows, and improved ventilation - Cool roofs include paintings or coverings with high albedo that reflect large part of the energy from the sun and thus decreasing the heat absorbed by the building and alleviating the stress on passive and active cooling systems. - Façade shading devices and/or solar window films minimize the negative effects of heat in buildings by absorbing the heat externally and decreasing solar radiation. - Ventilation in buildings can be supplied through mechanical equipment or natural air currents with natural air currents being critical for maintaining thermal comfort during power failures. To improve ventilation the installation or upgrade of mechanical units and/or operable windows should be considered.

• Work with public and private entities to develop energy efficiency assessment tools that collect information and report on the need for weatherization initiatives and where to most effectively prioritize the adaptation of units and buildings • Collect additional information on roof temperatures through innovative technology approaches and public/private collaborations to contribute to “cool roof” policy considerations

• Increase availability and access to weatherization programs through leveraging public and private funding and bolstering community education around energy efficiency measures • Support local economies ²⁷  through intentional climate-related business development strategies such as job training, start-up coaching, equitable hiring practices, and fair wages that ensure investment in green infrastructure financially empowers cost-burdened communities by working with grassroots community organization and municipal economic development offices

Washington, DC -  Solar For All Program   The Washington, DC Department of Energy is partnering with local organizations to install solar panels for 100,000 low- to moderate-income families over the span of 10 years. The Solar for All Program works to develop community solar projects to benefit renters and residents in multifamily buildings as well as single family homes. A recent project at Rock Creek Ford used solar shingles from  SunStyle  that act as both traditional solar panels and durable roofing material that can provide enough energy for six low-income families. Projects are sponsored by DC Green Bank, a bank that provides access to capital to local businesses for sustainable development such as solar energy projects. San Antonio, TX -  Under 1 Roof Program  The City of San Antonio addressed roofing and climate needs by repairing old roofing with newer, light-colored, and solar-resistant materials. These infrastructure updates improved energy efficiency, reduced utility bills, absorbed solar energy, and lowered temperatures inside the housing unit. Construction was done using Solarhide Underlayment and Shasta white shingle roofing materials. As of 2018, 175 energy efficient roofs had been installed and there was an average reduction in Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 7.3%. A study done through The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Center for Cultural Sustainability found major reductions in home temperatures during the summer for San Antonio homes that had roofs installed under the Under 1 Roof Program.

Scaling up from the housing unit, the built environment of neighborhoods plays a major factor in exposure to and exacerbation of extreme heat issues. Urban development brings an increase of impermeable surfaces like asphalt roadways, sidewalks, surface parking lots, and buildings that increase land surface and air temperatures. ²⁸  While overall temperatures are already rising due to climate change, the infrastructure of neighborhoods worsens its impacts by trapping heat and making movement around the community increasingly difficult. ²⁹  To mitigate these extreme heat impacts on highly vulnerable neighborhoods, it is important to adapt the physical infrastructure of neighborhoods to lessen heat exposure but also support a social environment conducive to community-driven heat response.

Interconnected policy responses are necessary to tackle extreme heat issues at the neighborhood level. Various socio-economic factors including race and income play a role in both past and present land use and investment decisions, with the outcome often producing less green and more gray infrastructure for marginalized communities. ³⁰  Urban tree canopy coverage is one solution that contributes to a range of environmental and health benefits for neighborhoods but is often inequitably distributed throughout cities. ³¹  Planting trees alone will not be enough to mitigate health impacts - cities must also adapt the built environment to reduce the amount of impervious surfaces and reduce nighttime temperatures to be most effective in lowering heat exposure, especially for low-income communities. ³²  These environmental justice concerns should be central to planning extreme heat adaptation strategies and informing equitable strategies for transitioning Miami-Dade County towards a heat resilient future. ³³  Infrastructure investment can potentially lead to ”green gentrification” ³⁴  and displacement of current neighborhood residents through increased housing, property, and amenity values. ³⁵  Community partnerships and procedural justice are crucial to overcoming equity concerns in decision-making and implementation of sustainability goals. ³⁶  Strong community engagement, localized economic development, and informed decision-making power of current residents can help balance the social, financial, and political issues of urban environmental investment and transition. ³⁷  Highly impacted communities and vulnerable populations have creative ideas and effective coping mechanisms for their everyday conditions – engagement and investment should go towards empowering their voices and tangible participation in generating meaningful changes to improve those conditions in their neighborhoods.

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Current Resources

   Miami-Dade County Cooling Centers         Growing Roots for Environmentally Equitable Neighborhoods (GREEN) Miami-Dade County Matching Grant    2021 Miami-Dade County Urban Tree Canopy Assessment   Street Tree Master Plan    Million Trees Miami   Adopt-A-Tree Community Forestry Project   Miami-Dade County Green Building Expedited Plan Review   City of Miami Green Building Incentives 

Community-Based Action

 Dade County Street Response  is a community-driven initiative of medical professionals, neighborhood leaders, and local advocates that provides crucial services and information to people experiencing poverty and homelessness. Through its  Miami Street Medicine  clinic, medical care is administered to neighbors on the street facing chronic exposure to high temperatures and other environmental stressors. The  Disaster Relief Team  coordinates a community-oriented, systematic network with neighborhoods facing the inaccessibility of response resources and healthcare to get ready for and respond to natural emergencies on the ground, like recognizing the signs of heat-related illness.

 Catalyst Miami organizes neighborhood-based resilience hubs  that build social infrastructure and empower community members facing climate-related threats through direct engagement and advocacy. The Community Champions program supports local leadership through stipends, training, resource sharing, and ongoing collaboration. These models for Resilience Hubs show the high impact of community engaged, inclusive, accessible programming and can be effective in mobilizing community response during extreme heat waves. Catalyst Miami also recently published their report  “From Public Participation To Community Empowerment”  which details a framework for inclusive engagement and highlights the need for community leadership.

• Reach the County’s 30% tree canopy coverage by 2030 through allocating funding and prioritizing areas of highest energy burden for increased tree planting, ongoing maintenance, trimming, and community input throughout the process • Incentivize larger development projects to include heat reduction measures, cooling designs, and contributions to neighborhood green space that increase heat resiliency while curbing displacement through mechanisms like Community Benefits Agreements, Public Benefits Trusts, tax credits, and expedited permitting • Identify bus stops without adequate shade and consider green infrastructure improvements to provide cooling for public transportation users • Improve gray, green, and blue interventions in and around buildings, neighborhood public services and parks such as weatherizing buildings, replacing impermeable surfaces with more absorbent plantings or materials, increasing water features, expanding community garden access, and implementing passive cooling features such as small covered gathering areas, shade structures, or tree groves - Weatherizing includes a variety of retrofits and improvements to increase efficiency, reduce energy cost and enhance the well-being of occupants. - Replacing impervious pavements with surfaces that allow water to pass reduces runoff protecting off‐site water quality. - Water features such as fountains and misting installations cool the air reducing heat stress. - Community gardens offer places with low heat stress as trees and vegetation lower surface and air temperature through shade and evapotranspiration. - Passive cooling features represent all interventions that increase evapotranspiration and create shaded areas.

• Update the County’s Tree Canopy Assessment and circulate broadly with community-based organizations to build partnerships around developing neighborhood-level heat reduction strategies through green public infrastructure • Identify priority areas for urban tree canopy improvement based on vulnerability and equity factors and commit to culturally conscious community involvement in the implementation process • Increase availability of and emphasis on heat-related information and mitigation tips at neighborhood public services centers where residents seek information about public health, civic engagement, disaster response, and emergency management

• Encourage hyper-local participation in landscaping decisions by involving organizations deeply familiar with the neighborhood and its needs to develop ownership and buy-in for heat-reduction projects • Update local grant programs to reduce barriers to smaller neighborhood non-profits accessing funds and technical support to implement sustainability initiatives • Support equitable participation and employment in public infrastructure transition programs by offering competitive compensation, skills training, intentional recruitment, targeted outreach, and community education • Leverage the power of cooling centers by ensuring accessibility for local residents, addressing barriers to center use, maintaining consistent community programming even during non-emergency times, and broadening local knowledge of extreme heat and neighborhood resources available to manage its impacts

Detroit, MI – Detroit Reforestation Initiative and Adult & Youth Conservation Corps The City of Detroit partnered with a non-profit, The Greening Detroit, to create equitable green infrastructure and renew urban forestry across Detroit’s neighborhoods while empowering communities economically. Together they created Adult and Youth Conservation Corps programs to give community members of all ages the chance to earn wages while assisting with programs such as the Detroit Reforestation Initiative. The Detroit Conservation Corps is an adult workforce development program that provides unemployed residents with job training opportunities and certifications within the landscaping sector to both address environmental issues and support job growth. The Green Corps Summer Youth Program is a paid urban forestry vocational program that enlists youths in helping to maintain new green space and trees planted by the Detroit Reforestation Initiative while teaching youth about careers paths in the environmental and public service. Pittsburgh, PA –  Equitable Street Tree Investment Strategy : The Equitable Street Tree Investment Strategy aims to distribute and maintain tree canopies in low-canopy neighborhoods as the city aims to plant 100,000 trees in a ten-year span. Pittsburgh’s Shade Tree Commission will identify 10 neighborhoods that have a history of under-investment that has led to adverse health outcomes and increased vulnerability to climate change. These 10 neighborhoods will receive prioritized investments in tree planting while involving local community organizations in identifying specific areas of need to increase public participating and engagement in the implementation process.

Large scale interventions on extreme heat mitigation and adaption are necessary for Miami-Dade to be collectively climate ready as smaller scale changes will contribute to but not fully solve resiliency and equity issues across the County. Urban development patterns change climate landscapes and result in increased temperatures – commonly referred to as the Urban Heat Island effect. ⁴⁰  City and County-wide decisions on urban development and infrastructure investment can mitigate the Urban Heat Island effect or contribute to the problem already felt disproportionately among marginalized communities. ⁴¹  Impervious building construction materials, reduced natural areas, dense urban geography, and heat-generating human activities all contribute to creating these hotspot islands of heat throughout cities. ⁴²  In Miami-Dade County, lack of green areas, tree canopy, and excessive non-porous surfaces concentrate heat in low-income communities of color. ⁴³ 

Cutting greenhouse gas emissions is integral to many facets of a climate resilience strategy, but especially for addressing extreme heat and flooding as increasing greenhouse gas effect in Earth’s atmosphere raises temperatures and sea levels. ⁴⁴  Energy use in buildings and fuel use from transportation are the biggest sources of these emissions in Miami-Dade County. ⁴⁵  Higher temperatures translate to elevated electricity usage from increased need for air conditioning. Without a decarbonized electric grid, the problem of greenhouse gas emissions is compounded in the immediate response to extreme heat. As the county that consumes the most energy in Florida, Miami-Dade can be a leader in making changes towards energy resiliency and affordability measures at local, state, and national levels. ⁴⁶ 

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Current Resources

 Climate & Heat Health Task Force         Building Efficiency 305   Strategic Miami Area Rapid Transit (SMART) Plan   Resilient 305   Miami-Dade County Sustainable Buildings Program   Miami-Dade County Workforce Housing Development Program   Miami 21 Public Benefits Program – Green Buildings 

Community-Based Action

• The  CLEO Institute  is a statewide climate advocacy and education organization based in Miami-Dade County. Its award-winning  Melting Florida  campaign around heat vulnerability in the state reached far and wide, using striking artwork to show the impacts and stories of communities facing extreme heat. ⁴⁷   GenCLEO Youth Programs  teach high school and college students about Florida‘s climate crisis and empower youth-led activism, a reminder that future generations depend on the city and county-wide decisions made today on environmental sustainability. CLEO’s education and community engagement has resulted in increased funding for resiliency at the City of Miami, 100% renewable energy commitments from Miami-Dade County schools, and a Youth Climate Advisory Board at Miami-Dade County. ⁴⁸   • The  Miami Climate Alliance  brings together over 135 local organizations to advocate for climate equity and justice on a county-wide scale. Coordinating efforts amongst many grassroots groups and advocates, the MCA helps shape a city and county-wide vision of just transition and leads community-led action on pressing environmental issues. By combining advocacy around housing, public health, transit, energy, and jobs, the MCA brings an equity lens to local government decisions around budgeting, development, zoning, and emergency planning.

• Follow development principles and strategies for urban planning that maximize public transportation, continuous community engagement, preserving neighborhood cultures, inclusionary zoning ⁴⁹ , and mixed land use to mitigate urban heat island effect ⁵⁰  • Leverage County influence to encourage changes in state law and regional utility practices that promote renewable, equitable energy generation, transmission, and usage ⁵¹  • Streamline local zoning, permitting, and tax incentives to facilitate the production of housing that is both affordable and adaptable to extreme heat impacts while integrating adherence to equity and resilience considerations. • Enact a variety of zoning reforms ⁵²  geared towards increasing availability of equitable affordable housing while mitigating and preventing climate change impacts such as reducing mandatory parking requirements while still meeting low-to-mid income household needs, encouraging multifamily and mixed-use development, strengthening fair housing protections, and requiring displacement evaluations • Advocate for state level changes and funding at the intersection of housing and extreme heat such as minimum cooling standards for tenant inhabitability, building age code updates, social vulnerability assessments for development, and assistance in regional planning • Implement gray interventions in new or redeveloped construction through zoning like minimum requirements for solar reflective surfaces, cool roofing, impervious parking lots and sidewalks, and building energy efficiency incentives in commercial and residential developments

Several local heat-specific efforts are already addressing climate adaptation and mitigation issues that could use further support for full implementation and enforcement:

City of Miami Ordinance:  Heat Island Affect Roofs & Non-Roofs  (October 2009) Ordinance:  Tree Protection  (March 2017) Report:  Miami21 Task Force Recommendations  (October 2021 - pages 697-702, 746-753) Plan:  Southwest Street Tree Masterplan  (April 2019, status update April 2021)

City of Miami Beach Ordinance:  Urban Heat Island  (March 2019) Plan:  Urban Forestry Masterplan  (October 2020)

Miami-Dade County Ordinance:  Cool Roofs on County-Owned Properties  Toolkit:  Extreme Heat  (Fall 2021) Report:  Understanding Heat Exposure in Miami-Dade County  (June 2022) Report: Miami-Dade Extreme Heat and Mortality (2022) Report: Miami-Dade Extreme Heat Vulnerability Mapping (2022) Plan:  Resilient305 Heat Action  (Coming mid-December 2022)

• Define, identify, and analyze urban heat islands using vulnerability indicators and local GIS tools to prioritize interventions supported by local government and participatory community decision-making processes • Create educational initiatives to inform residents about the variety of historical and environmental factors like historical redlining and urban tree canopy that have led to increased heat exposure and support citizen science and storytelling to collect more data on disparate impacts of extreme heat • Further develop coding practices and communication networks in the healthcare system to better understand the root causes of and unequal vulnerability to heat-related illness and connect patients to community and governmental resources to address heat and housing conditions

• Increase collaboration support between decision-makers in local governments and private partnerships with community-based action and local organizations working on grassroots resiliency efforts • Better communicate where resources, funding, services, and decisions are housed between the municipal and county governments • Strengthen economic development and job training programs towards extreme heat mitigation efforts through city and County offices and private industry investors with a focus on financially empowering energy cost burdened communities • Evaluate urban development decision-making and planning processes for their ability to provide inclusive community engagement, incorporate resident feedback, mitigate displacement and have pathways for accountability, especially for large scale projects

Philadelphia, PA –  Heat Vulnerability Index  +  Tool  Researchers with the City of Philadelphia developed a heat vulnerability index to identify areas that were most at-risk of needing heat preparedness and interventions to combat adverse heat-related health outcomes. The heat vulnerability index indicated census block groups that were most vulnerable to heat to better direct localized pilot programs and policies. Socio-demographic data was also collected and implemented in the index to compare across census block groups to account for various factors of historical and current inequality. A website was also developed to efficiently showcase the heat vulnerability index data to users such as city officials, local organizations, and residents. Seattle, WA –  Equity & Environment Initiative   The Office of Sustainability & Environment works city-wide with municipal programs and community organizations through the Equity & Environmental Initiative to ensure that communities most impacted by environmental injustice are engaged in setting environmental priorities, designing strategies and tracking progress. The Initiative’s  Equity & Engagement Agenda  sets forth a strong community-based framework for how the city can address climate issues while mitigating displacement, promoting structural change, and empowering historically marginalized communities. In conjunction with other municipal offices and local organizations, the Office conducted the  Extreme Heat Scenario-Based Pilot Project in Frontline Communities Community-Driven Planning Process , a racial equity evaluation to understand existing social networks, assets within the community, current strategies for dealing with extreme heat, and opportunities to implement community-driven solutions.

Miami-Dade County faces heightened challenges during high heat days and other extreme weather events. Electrical issues and blackouts are particularly dangerous because air conditioning (AC) and other cooling measures are so crucial to preventing heat-related injury and death. Equitable extreme heat emergency preparedness must address disproportionate access to AC, information, and other vital resources.

• Include heat-related information in the 311 Contact Center materials such as the closest cooling centers, methods by which to apply for financial assistance, at-home remedies for high heat days, and conditions for which to seek immediate medical help • Explore the creation of community-based check-in systems during high heat events in partnership with local non-profit service providers to build localized support models and financially support individuals who are experiencing cost burdens in marginalized communities during extreme heat events • Update the County’s Hurricane Readiness Guide to better help residents navigate post-storm electrical damage and inaccessibility coupled with extreme temperatures • Improve availability, accessibility, and efficiency of cooling centers and resilience hubs during high heat events and post-hurricane recovery through expanding schedules, aligning location with public transportation routes, implementing energy measures, and developing language inclusive community outreach • Develop a neighborhood-response program similar to CERT that hires local leaders to do wellness checks, distribute key information, and network resources at the community level specifically during high heat events

The social and financial costs of extreme heat are rising just like the temperature. ⁵⁴  Studies across the United States show the cost-benefit of investing in climate resiliency and the large potential for economic development from such investments. ⁵⁵  High heat days not only affect physical health and well-being, extreme heat is also projected to have negative economic impacts. Major industries in Miami-Dade County, such as construction, agriculture, and tourism, that require workers to be outdoors are expected to be most impacted. High heat has direct impacts on workforce productivity and can result in mechanical or equipment failure. According to a 2021 report by the Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center, “Without meaningful action to reduce emissions and/or adapt to extreme heat, labor productivity losses could double to nearly $200 billion by 2030 and reach $500 billion by 2050.” A combination of policy, planning, advocacy, education and infrastructure investments are needed to mitigate the impacts that high-heat poses. Equitable extreme heat adaptation and mitigation takes significant financial and governmental investment. In addition to the local resources listed in each section, there are also state and federal government financing and assistance programs available that Miami-Dade County and its municipalities could tap into:

State  Florida Small Community Energy Efficient Lighting Grant Program   My Florida Home Energy: Incentives   Creating a Florida Future Fund   DOE State & Local Solution Center Resources   Florida Urban and Community Forestry Grants 

Federal  Community Services Block Grant: Mitigating Heat Stress in Vulnerable Populations   FEMA Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities   Inflation Reduction Act: Environmental Justice    Clean Energy for Low-Income Communities Accelerator (CELICA) Toolkit   Low-Income Energy Library: Federal Resources and Tools  The development of extreme heat-ready, affordable housing is possible. ⁵⁶  Local decision-makers, community advocates, public services, researchers, and financial institutions working together towards a common goal of healthy, safe, affordable housing for all can seize this vast opportunity to transition Miami-Dade County towards climate resiliency. On behalf of the  Office of Civic and Community Engagement , thank you for reading this toolkit and we look forward to continuing to co-creating extreme heat solutions together.

University of Miami Project Team Robin F. Bachin, Founding Director, Office of Civic and Community Engagement Megan Donovan, Grant Program Manager Jen Posner, Senior Manager for Policy and Programs Megan Hennings, Law Fellow and Toolkit Architect Noah Garcia, Data Visualization James Massi, AmeriCorps VISTA Landolf Rhode Barbarigos, UM College of Engineering Arcadis Melissa Hew Flavia Tonioli Ajani Stewart We are especially grateful to the following individuals for generously sharing their time and insights to develop the extreme heat policy toolkit: Jane Gilbert, Chief Heat Officer, Miami-Dade County Ludovica Martella, Office of the Chief Heat Officer, Miami Dade County Jonathan Klopp, Resilience Program Manager, City of Miami Amy Knowles, Chief Resilience Officer, City of Miami Beach Jim Murley, Chief Resilience Officer, Miami-Dade County

• Welcome to Meltsville: Interactive City Guide -  https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2022/heat-infrastructure-transportation/?itid=hp-more-top-stories  • Community-engaged heat resilience planning: Lessons from a youth smart city STEM program -  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204622001463?via%3Dihub  • American Planning Association: Planning for Urban Heat Resilience -  https://planning-org-uploaded-media.s3.amazonaws.com/publication/download_pdf/PAS-Report-600-r1.pdf   • Low-Income Energy Affordability: Conclusions from a Literature Review -  https://info.ornl.gov/sites/publications/Files/Pub124723.pdf  • Cool Roofs Blueprint -  https://citiesofservice.jhu.edu/resource/cool-roofs/   • Targeted implementation of cool roofs for equitable urban adaptation to extreme heat -  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34757097/  • Cool Roof Rating Council: Codes and Ordinances -  https://coolroofs.org/resources/codes-programs-standards  • Climate change adaptation to extreme heat: a global systematic review of implemented action -  https://academic.oup.com/oocc/article/1/1/kgab005/6290719  • Why green ““climate gentrification” threatens poor and vulnerable populations -  https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1920490117  • Community-Informed Heat Relief: Policy Options for Addressing Urban Extreme Heat in High-Risk Communities -  https://www.georgetownclimate.org/files/report/Community-Informed-Heat-Relief-2021.pdf  

[1] https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/2020-12/UCS_extreme_heat_report_190712b_low-res_corrected12-20.pdf [2] https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/2020-days-above-thresholds [3] https://onebillionresilient.org/hot-cities-chilled-economies-miami/ [4] https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-health-care-consequences-of-extreme-heat-are-just-the-tip-of-the-iceberg/ ; The book “Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago” by Eric Klinenberg details how various social, economic, and institutional factors led to the tragic number of deaths in the city’s 1995 heat wave. His findings show that a collective response to extreme heat mitigation is needed rather than pinning responsibility on individuals and that communities, governmental institutions, and organizations must work together to ensure health and safety for vulnerable populations before, during, and after heat waves. [5] This problem is not limited to Miami, but rather is seen across the country: https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/795961381/racist-housing-practices-from-the-1930s-linked-to-hotter-neighborhoods-today, https://www.mdpi.com/2225-1154/8/1/12/htm [6] The intersection of extreme heat exposure and social vulnerability has been specifically studied in several cities across the country: https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/full/10.1289/ehp.1408178 ; https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/4/640 ; https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/ajph.87.9.1515 . Researchers with University of Miami’s RSMAS have analyzed California’s equity-oriented adaptation program for local and state governments to be applied to extreme heat interventions: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0240841 [7] More best practices and innovative equity programs are listed here: https://www.usdn.org/products-equity.html [8] https://www.cdc.gov/disasters/extremeheat/specificgroups.html [9] https://www.npr.org/2020/01/14/795961381/racist-housing-practices-from-the-1930s-linked-to-hotter-neighborhoods-today ; https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/0d17f3d6e31e419c8fdfbbd557f0edae [10] https://issuu.com/seealliance/docs/report_energyinsecurity_02_15_2021_v1/s/11735337 [11] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953616304658?via%3Dihub; https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/1-s2.0-S0277953616304658-gr1.jpg [12] https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1093/jurban/jti043.pdf [13] https://www.aceee.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/aceee-01_energy_burden_-_miami.pdf [14] https://projects.theintercept.com/climate-and-punishment/index.html [15] https://www.osha.gov/heat-exposure/standards [16] https://www.catalystmiami.org/miami_center_equity_in_addressing_heat_risk [17] University of Miami graduate students are working on this in key Miami neighborhoods (link); other cities are also using participatory mapping to collect data on heat and equity factors: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-28/citizen-scientists-map-urban-heat-down-to-the-block-level?utm_campaign=socialflow-organic&utm_content=citylab&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social [18] https://www.maricopa.gov/5723/Energy-Insecurity ; https://www.maricopa.gov/5758/Project-Details [19] https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/time-boost-extreme-heat-resilience-low-income-us-housing/ [20] https://www.energy.gov/eere/slsc/low-income-community-energy-solutions [21] https://www.lisc.org/our-stories/story/reaching-our-climate-goals-demands-affordable-sustainable-housing/ [22] https://rmi.org/the-wonders-of-weatherization-improving-equity-through-stimulus-funding/ [23] In 2021, bills were introduced in the Florida legislature to change state law but did not make it past committee: HB 819 - https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=75318&SessionId=93 and SB 1134 - https://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=75310&SessionId=93 [24] Landlords are obligated to maintain functioning facilities for heat during the winter but not for cooling during the summer. Fla. Stat. Ann. § 83.51. [25] https://www.miamidade.gov/building/standards/residential-minimum-housing.asp [26] Check out Coors Light’s ”Chillboards” campaign for cooling Miami roofs: https://musebycl.io/environment/coors-lights-rooftop-ads-cool-down-homes-miami [27] The Hope Program in New York City, NY connects climate resiliency and equitable economic development through initiatives like cool roofing employment for previously incarcerated individuals: https://www.thehopeprogram.org/start-dates-and-sign-ups [28] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10980-015-0284-3 [29] https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/ehp.109-1240665 [30] Id. [31] https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0122051&xid=17259,15700023,15700186,15700191,15700256,15700259,15700262,15700265,15700271,15700283; Miami-Dade County 2011 study on UTC and environmental justice: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228268481_Environmental_Justice_Implications_of_Urban_Tree_Cover_in_Miami-Dade_County_Florida?enrichId=rgreq-4dca6eb81fb77f3172b3f388d195fd66-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzIyODI2ODQ4MTtBUzo3NTA0OTczMzQwNjMxMDlAMTU1NTk0MzkxNjI0NA%3D%3D&el=1_x_2&_esc=publicationCoverPdf [32] https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1817561116 [33] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01944363.2020.1759127?src=recsys [34] https://www.bcnuej.org/green-gentrification/ [35] https://www.socresonline.org.uk/21/3/6.html [36] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/24694452.2017.1365585?casa_token=jknyv7QgFJIAAAAA%3AdzCRH7DlxdpQHq1Mkn5FNHleoc96lHAFa9YCprR_4HeYcoHOzTbU_XWqXyNwBZ1Eov5Exwo5OG6vsw [37] https://www.socresonline.org.uk/21/3/6.html [38] Check out their Hurricane Healthy checklist and other resources on disaster response: https://www.southfldisasterrelief.org/hurricane-preparedness [39] https://www.miamidade.gov/parks/library/growing-green-bus-stops.pdf [40] https://www.heat.gov/pages/urban-heat-islands [41] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8149665/ [42] https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/learn-about-heat-islands [43] https://www.miamidade.gov/initiative/thrive305/blue-green-jobs/action7-3.page [44] https://www.c2es.org/content/heat-waves-and-climate-change/ [45] https://www.miamidade.gov/global/economy/resilience/climate-strategy/emissions.page [46] Compare Miami-Dade to other municipal, state, and federal policies and programs here: https://programs.dsireusa.org/system/program [47] Check out this video to see the artwork: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qw1gGSLWD8&t=145s [48] https://cleoinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Annual-Report-2-1.pdf [49] https://www.adaptationclearinghouse.org/resources/mandatory-inclusionary-zoning-ordinance-miami-florida.html [50] https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/smart-growth-and-heat-islands [51] The Florida Office of Energy under the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services released ”A Study of Energy Equity Within Florida: Final Report“ in September 2022: https://www.dropbox.com/s/t6b18x5vdutafhf/FDACS%20Study%20of%20Energy%20Equity%20within%20Florida_Final%20Report.pdf?dl=0 [52] https://apps.urban.org/features/advancing-equity-affordability-through-zoning/#reforms [53] Shading Dade is a citizen science heat monitoring project collecting temperature data and recording residents’ stories of lack of tree canopy: https://environment.fiu.edu/slsc/resources/_assets/shading-dade---heat-resource-guide-summer-2021.pdf [54] https://time.com/6093845/how-heat-hurts-the-economy/ [55] https://www.usgbc.org/sites/default/files/delivering-urban-resilience-2018.pdf ; https://www.c2es.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/the-climate-resilience-economy-nexus-advancing-common-goal.pdf [56] https://housingmatters.urban.org/articles/how-cities-can-tackle-both-affordable-housing-and-climate-crises