A194-07
The Interconnection between the Urban Heat Island and Social Factors on Health Outcomes: Transforming Heat Wave Experiences into Meaningful Community Improvement

Tuesday, 15 December 2020: 08:54
Virtual
Anais Teyton1,2, Mary Anne Woody1, Lucy Piacentini1, Matthew Bilik3, Marlon Rice4, Hamid Norouzi5 and Reginald Blake6, (1)NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY, United States, (2)University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States, (3)Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn, NY, United States, (4)Magnolia Tree Earth Center, Brooklyn, NY, United States, (5)New York City College of Technology, CUNY, New York, United States, (6)CUNY New York City College of Technology, Civil Engineering Department, Brooklyn, NY, United States
Recorded Presentation
Abstract:
Climate change may exacerbate the urban heat island particularly in neighborhoods where access to resources, such as green spaces, air conditioning, and social support are limited. Prior research has largely focused on city-level health impacts from heat waves. By contrast, this study investigates the associations between land surface temperature from satellite remote sensing, social factors that may contribute to heat vulnerability, and heat wave impacts in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in New York City.

Climate science and epidemiological methods were combined to measure land surface temperature using the Landsat 8 satellite and to conduct a neighborhood-wide survey about heat wave impacts and the factors that may contribute to heat vulnerability. Furthermore, collaboration with Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Magnolia Initiative allowed for community outreach and engagement. A city wide summer heat map that highlights the neighborhoods that experience higher temperature ranges in New York City was created. Multivariate logistic regressions were utilized to better understand how social factors can have a compound effect on heat vulnerability and heat wave impacts.

Bedford-Stuyvesant located in Brooklyn, New York City was found to have an average land surface temperature of 30.3ºC during the summers of 2013-2020, which was approximately 1.0ºC higher than the New York City-wide average, and more than 75% of the community’s participants were exposed to both heat-related physical and mental health effects. Younger individuals, women, and individuals who are in a partnership or married were more likely to take precautions against heat waves.

Integrating climate science and public health can foster community opportunities to tailor heat reduction strategies. The most accessible community resource was found to be green spaces, while cooling centers were most infrequently accessed despite participant interest in using them, highlighting possible courses of action for policy making. Provided that over half of the participants have never heard of the urban heat island effect, community engagement could prove to be beneficial. Creative strategies that acknowledge the interaction between the COVID-19 pandemic and heat waves are also identified.

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