Cool neighborhoods NYC - A comprehensive approach to keep communities safe in extreme heat

The Cool Neighborhoods NYC is a new $106 million program designed to help keep New Yorkers safe during hot weather, mitigate UHI effect drivers and protect against the worst impacts of rising temperatures from climate change. 

The first set of strategies outlined in this report highlights the role that the physical environment plays in driving local temperatures and describes the City’s investments to increase shade, greenery, and canopy cover and increase high albedo surfaces in public and private sites to help lower surface and indoor temperatures in NYC neighborhoods with high vulnerability to heat-related illnesses and mortality. High temperatures also threaten New Yorkers inside their homes today and will continue to do so in the future due to climate change. For this reason the Cool Neighborhoods NYC comprehensive approach also includes adaptation strategies to keep New Yorkers safe during periods of extreme heat.

The second set of strategies outlined in this report underscores the critical role that our most trusted messengers can play in helping us adapt to climate change. The final strategy outlined in this report describes key efforts to better understand the scope of the challenge via data collection and monitoring.