Are Cooling Centers Optimally Placed to Serve Vulnerable Populations? An analysis of 77 US Cities

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Although extreme heat can affect anyone, some people are more exposed and/or more susceptible than others. In urban settings, cooling centers are frequently used to mitigate the negative health effects of extreme heat. However, how well cooling centers serve those at greatest risk remains unknown. We compared the distribution of cooling centers versus perceived need based on markers of urban heat island and population vulnerability in multiple cities across the US. METHODS: We identified the location of 935 cooling centers across 77 populous US cities from publicly available sources. Within each city, we estimated average land surface temperature (LST) from MODIS and the CDC’s Social Vulnerability Index (SVI) within a 1-mile walking network of each cooling center and compared those values to average values across the corresponding city. We then meta-analyzed results across cities overall and grouped by National Climate Assessment (NCA4) regions to evaluate climate-relevant regional differences. RESULTS:Nationally, LST around cooling centers was 3.3°F cooler than the city-wide average. The largest differences were seen in the Northwest and Southwest where LST near cooling centers was on average 5℉ cooler than the city average. In contrast, the average SVI of populations living near cooling centers was greater than the city average (0.61 versus 0.55), suggesting that, nationally, cooling centers are preferentially located somewhat closer to vulnerable populations. Regionally, cooling centers were located closest to more vulnerable populations in the Northern Great Plains and in the Southeast. CONCLUSIONS:These results suggest that there may be room for improvement in the placement of cooling centers closer to those subgroups of the population most likely to be adversely impacted by days of extreme heat. KEYWORDS: Temperature Extremes, Environmental Disparities, Spatial Statistics, Environmental Justice