Partnership Between A Better City, The Boston Foundation, Boston University School of Public Health, and City of Boston Launches Heat Sensor Pilot to Fill Critical Data Gaps in Measuring the Lived Experience of Extreme Heat in Boston’s Hotspot Communities
July 15, 2024
Partnership Between A Better City, The Boston Foundation, Boston University School of Public Health, and City of Boston Launches Heat Sensor Pilot to Fill Critical Data Gaps in Measuring the Lived Experience of Extreme Heat in Boston’s Hotspot Communities
Initiative to install sensors throughout the City of Boston to help close data gaps in measuring live temperature data across Boston’s neighborhoods, to provide more accurate indicators for heat waves and official heat emergency declarations, and to guide data-informed resource allocation
Heat Sensor Pilot Project Team Launches the First Sensor Installation at Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center. Photo Credit: A Better City and Boston University.
Left to right: Zoë Davis (City of Boston), Isabella Gambill (A Better City), Jonathan Lee (Boston University), Ben Hires (Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center), Ameera Saba (Boston University), Julia Howard (The Boston Foundation), and Dr. M. Patricia Fabián (Boston University)
(Boston, MA) July 16, 2024 – A Better City, in partnership with The Boston Foundation, Boston University’s School of Public Health, and the City of Boston’s Environment Department (with input from the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics and Green New Deal team), celebrates the launch of a heat sensor pilot program to address the significant data gaps in measuring live temperature data across Boston’s hotspot neighborhoods, which can be 10-15 degrees warmer than surrounding neighborhoods. A total of 15 sensors were installed at 12 A Better City member and partner properties, as well as on 3 City-owned trees, across hotspot neighborhoods in Boston. This pilot program aims to provide neighborhood-specific temperature data to augment National Weather Service station data and to better inform City officials in declaring heat emergencies and advisories and in supporting vulnerable Bostonians. The results of this pilot will help inform the city, local institutions, and community-based partners on how to distribute available resources to heat-vulnerable residents, workers, and neighborhoods on hot days. Data may more broadly guide future policy initiatives for community heat resilience undertaken by both the public and private sectors.
Currently, there is only one National Weather Service temperature sensor in the City of Boston, located at Logan Airport, which determines the official temperature for the entire city. To reach a declared heat emergency in Boston, the National Weather Service sensor at Logan must register 95 degrees Fahrenheit or higher for two consecutive days, yet temperatures in some hotspot neighborhoods are likely reaching this threshold much sooner and more frequently. The data collected by the 15 sensors will be used to compare neighborhood readings against the official National Weather Service temperature readings to help provide a better understanding of the existing data gaps and inform the provision of heat relief efforts.
Through this pilot program, sensors have been placed in hotspot neighborhoods as defined and identified in the City of Boston 2022 Heat Plan, and in close proximity to socially vulnerable populations, including in the neighborhoods of Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Mattapan, and Roxbury, as well as in Allston-Brighton and Jamaica Plain. This pilot builds upon existing research done by the City of Boston, C-HEAT, Wicked Hot Boston, Wicked Hot Mystic, and others, and aims to lay a foundation for future work to establish a permanent temperature sensor network and publicly accessible dashboard of neighborhood-specific live temperature data in future years.
The pilot project team is grateful for the partnership of A Better City member and partner organizations: Arnold Arboretum (Harvard University), Bay Cove Human Services, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Boston Green Academy, Boston Medical Center, Charles River Community Health, City of Boston’s Urban Forestry Division, Franklin Park Zoo, Greenway Conservancy, Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition, Museum of Science, and UMass Boston. A Better City first committed to addressing extreme heat as a racial and climate justice issue within our 2021 Equity in the Built Environment Action Plan and has facilitated an Extreme Heat Working Group of member and partner organizations working with the City on heat solutions implementation since December 2022. A Better City members are interested in participating in the heat sensor pilot to better understand how to protect their workers, patients, students, vulnerable communities, businesses, and critical infrastructure from the increasing impacts of extreme heat.
“Extreme heat is already impacting our vulnerable communities and infrastructure alike, so it is critical to measure real impacts and develop real resilience solutions with a sense of urgency,” said Kate Dineen, President and CEO of A Better City. “This collaborative partnership will gather continuous temperature data in hotspot neighborhoods, where temperatures can be a staggering 10-15 degrees warmer than surrounding neighborhoods with more tree cover. We believe there may be instances of heat emergency conditions in hotspot communities of color that are likely not being counted in official heat emergency declarations due to the variances in neighborhood temperature from Logan Airport.”
The near-term goals of this program are: to understand whether the future deployment of permanent sensors through a public-private partnership could enable more targeted and equitable heat emergency protocols for the city’s neighborhoods; to understand the barriers to installing sensors across the city; and to analyze the difference in temperature between hotspot neighborhoods and cooler locations for heat relief, such as parks and green spaces. A longer-term vision includes a public-private cross-jurisdictional partnership that could help share extreme heat data across institutions, mobilize shared resources in advance of and during extreme heat emergencies, identify locations for potential community resilience hubs, and develop equitable extreme heat policy priorities to inform city- and state-level advocacy. The project will collect temperature data from June-September 2024, with data analysis supported by Boston University School of Public Health researchers and a pilot project write-up with key lessons learned to come by winter 2024.
Additional Statements from Pilot Project Team Partners
Isabella Gambill, Assistant Director of Climate Energy & Resilience, A Better City
Extreme heat is the number one killer of all weather-related climate impacts—yet almost all deaths from extreme heat are preventable, as survival in the heat is entirely dependent upon someone’s access to cooling resources. A Better City is grateful to partner on this project in the hopes that it may help the city, our members, and our community-based partners to better allocate heat relief resources to the vulnerable neighborhoods that need them most.
Dr. M. Patricia Fabián, Associate Professor of Environmental Health and Associate Director of the Institute of Global Sustainability, Boston University School of Public Health
Cross-sector collaborations like this Boston extreme heat project are the future for advancing climate resilience efforts in cities, and we hope to generate actionable information for different stakeholders, including the city, businesses, community partners and researchers. As a public health researcher, ultimately my goal is to see improved population health and reduced health inequities through collaborative climate projects like this one.
Brian Swett, Chief Climate Officer, City of Boston
Addressing extreme heat is a top priority for Boston to improve our resilience to the impacts of climate change. This heat sensor pilot project is a crucial step towards understanding and mitigating the disparities in heat exposure across our neighborhoods. By filling critical data gaps, we can develop more equitable heat resilience strategies and better protect our residents. I am thankful to our partners including A Better City, Boston University, and The Boston Foundation, as well as Zoë Davis from the City who has been crucial to Boston's work to equitably respond to extreme heat.
Julia Howard, Senior Program Officer, The Boston Foundation
We are proud to partner on this pilot program that not only highlights a need to update our current heat sensor system, but it offers a path towards equitable solutions supported by data and driven by community voice, said Julia Howard, Senior Program Officer at the Boston Foundation.
Additional Statements from Sensor Host Site Partners
Dr. Anna Goldman, Director of Climate and Sustainability, Boston Medical Center; Co-Founder, Clean Power Prescription Program
As the largest essential hospital in Boston, Boston Medical Center is proud to serve as a heat sensor host site for this important project, which will generate much-needed data on urban heat islands in our metropolitan area.
Ben Hires, CEO, Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC)
Partnering with A Better City, C-Heat at BU, the City of Boston, and The Boston Foundation to address the impact of the ever-increasing heat from climate change is exciting. With the fewest trees and green space of any Boston neighborhood, the many residents that live below the poverty line are at much greater risk for the negative impact of heat during the year. BCNC, for example, services children year-round and more during the summer and being outside is part of the program. I hope the information gained from this pilot will inform policy makers about the resources and interventions needed to keep Chinatown and other communities and the most vulnerable members of our communities safe and healthy.
Chris Cook, Executive Director, Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy
The Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy prioritizes work with our Chinatown partners focused on recreational value and climate resilience, especially from heat. I applaud A Better City for its commitment to understanding how the climate crisis is impacting our Chinatown neighbors so we can collaboratively work on solutions.
Dave Kramer, Director of Green Programs & Partnerships, Boston Green Academy
Boston Green Academy is proud to be part of this pioneering effort. Having a sensor on our small front lawn, at the intersection of two main streets in Brighton, where our students play during recess and pass by on their way to and from school, is an amazing privilege. As a green school, we are on a mission to serve as leaders in involving young people in the civic life of our city as active participants and to understand, firsthand, what it means to deal with the impacts of climate change proactively, analytically, and without despair. With so many of our students commuting from the neighborhoods most impacted by the urban heat island effect, this literally connects their lived experience and educational journey, linking home and school in authentic ways. We can't wait to learn more and connect with the various participants in this innovative project, putting our students and learning community at the center of this effort.
Dr. David Sittenfeld, Director, Center for the Environment, Museum of Science
Extreme heat is a growing hazard for our communities in and around Boston. Heat is a silent storm that impacts everyone, stressing public health and our engineered infrastructures, but it doesn't affect all communities the same way. Because of the inequitable ways we have constructed our urban environments, marginalized neighborhoods experience temperature differences of up to 15-20 degrees Fahrenheit during extreme heat events, exacerbating other environmental and socioeconomic disparities. This pilot led by A Better City, Boston University, The Boston Foundation, and the City of Boston will provide crucial around-the-clock data that will inform equitable heat resilience planning to support our most vulnerable communities as these extreme heat events become more frequent and intense.
Elizabeth Browne, CEO, Charles River Community Health
Charles River Community Health is pleased to be able to participate in this important project. The impacts of climate change disproportionately impact the health of the patients we serve, and so as a community health center we are excited about the temperature data that will be collected through this project to determine future mitigation efforts that will benefit our patients and the community.
Janna Cohen-Rosenthal, Sustainability & Resiliency Planner, UMass Boston
At UMass Boston, we are working hard to decrease our climate impact and adapt to change, while also conducting vital education and research. Providing accurate localized temperature data and interventions to reduce heat islands is a critical life-saving measure and improves community wellbeing. Our beautiful harborside campus is hosting a sensor to contribute a comparable cool spot to this research. As a community health promoting University, we have opened public access to boating this summer. Partnering with other agencies to improve public transit and build more resilient roadways would increase equitable waterfront access to all Bostonians in a rapidly warming world.
Shavel’le Olivier, Executive Director, Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC)
Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition (MFFC) is happy to partner with A Better City to collect temperature data in Mattapan. Extreme heat, along with extreme weather challenges, water pollution, reduction of emissions, and the like are important factors to consider when supporting the health of a community. When we are able to combine the work at MFFC of engaging residents in ways to make the neighborhood more environmentally friendly through programming such as our bike rides and food access work, coupled with educational resources, we can work towards a healthy and thriving community.
William (Ned) Friedman, Director, Arnold Arboretum, Harvard University
From its beginnings, the Arnold Arboretum has valued its role in making our landscape accessible to all as a naturalized buffer against the rigors and intensity of urban life for the people of Boston. As a scientific institution, we are excited to participate in the City’s temperature sensor pilot to provide real data on how different temperature extremes are experienced in our landscape than in the heat islands that surround it. There is reason to hope that work like this will contribute meaningfully to making Boston and its population more resilient to what lies ahead.
About the Project Team
The team on this project consists of Isabella Gambill, A Better City, Dr. Patricia Fabián, BUSPH/C-HEAT, Jonathan Lee, BUSPH/C-HEAT (grad student lead researcher), Ameera Saba (BUSPH), Yirong Yuan (BUSPH), Zoë Davis, City of Boston Environment Department (in partnership with the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics and the Green New Deal Office), and Julia Howard, The Boston Foundation.
This pilot project is generously funded by The Boston Foundation.
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About A Better City
A Better City represents a multi-sector group of nearly 130 business leaders united around a common goal: to enhance the Greater Boston region’s economic health, competitiveness, equitable growth, sustainability, and quality of life for all communities. By amplifying the voice of the business community through collaboration and consensus-building, A Better City develops solutions and influences policy in three critical areas: 1. transportation and infrastructure, 2. land use and development, and 3. energy and the environment. A Better City is committed to building an equitable and inclusive future for the region that benefits and uplifts residents, workers, and businesses in Greater Boston. For more information, please visit http://www.abettercity.org.
Photo credit: Boston Green Academy; Sticker Credit: Jonathan Lee
