The City of Phoenix is investing $60 million as part of plans to tackle extreme heat, which threatens public health and widens socio-economic disparities amongst residents.

In 2024, the city in Arizona endured 113 consecutive days at or above 100 degrees Celsius.

In the face of these increasingly high temperatures, Phoenix is fighting back with a government initiative – the Shade Phoenix Plan.

The mayor of Phoenix, Kate Gallego said the extreme heat faced by many residents this summer has been “very difficult” in an interview.

As a part of Phoenix’s broader efforts to address intensifying extreme heat, Gallego said the city council will spend $60 million as part of the shade action plan to make Phoenix a more comfortable place to live.

These plans include planting 27,000 trees and building 550 shade structures over the next five years.

“We are updating our Walkable Urban Code to aim for 75% shade cover in high-volume pedestrian areas,” she told me.

“We want to design the city to be more comfortable. We’re also trying to use lighter building materials and really be intentional about adapting to Phoenix being a warmer city.”

Gallego said the city council has also received a grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies to fund shade canopies in eight city parks, which will also boast displays of public art inspired by local communities and history.

“We are trying to show off what’s unique about our history and future in Phoenix, as well as make the city more comfortable,” said Gallego.

She added the city council is also looking at the quantitative and qualitative impacts of extreme heat on the health of residents.

“We want to have as good of air quality here as possible,” she added “We also want to make sure that our kids can play outside as much of the year as possible.

“We are putting up shade canopies at both schools as well as city parks, which can help make the playgrounds more comfortable. We have a great grant program for our local particularly our elementary schools.”

The City of Phoenix has also been using data and 3D modeling to determine where to place and optimize added shade.

The City’s office of heat response and mitigation director, David Hondula said the date has helped them effectively build a version of a 3D model of Phoenix in an email.

Hondula added the model allows them to see how shade is cast at different times of day from all sources, including shade from buildings and trees.

“These shade estimates can show us where shade is most lacking and allow us to calculate shade coverage in key locations, like sidewalks or neighborhoods,” he said.

“Some examples of the shade coverage maps we produced can be seen in the Shade Phoenix Plan.

“We are grateful that these shade data were made available to us through a joint research project with researchers from University of California, Los Angeles and Arizona State University.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost one in four people across the United States are socially vulnerable and have low resilience to extreme heat exposure.

Last year (2023) the warmest temperature recorded since 1850 and more than 2,30 heat-related deaths in the U.S., and 2024 is on track to break this record with average global temperatures rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels.

Adam Freed, a principal at Bloomberg Associates, said Phoenix is on the forefront of not only extreme heat, but the deployment of solutions in an email.

“By adding tens of thousands of trees and hundreds of shade structures, and enacting policy changes to encourage more shade, Mayor Gallego is showing that climate action provides significant economic and health benefits and builds stronger, more resilient communities,” added Freed.

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