Pools, Parks, and Climate Equity
by Sonam Velani 
Treasured public spaces across the five boroughs. Photographs by Stephanie Mei-Ling for The New York Times.
Many of us likely hit the beach, relaxed in the city’s beautiful parks, or cooled down in the libraries this weekend. Despite living in a ‘concrete jungle,’ we’re blessed with public spaces that give us respite from rising temperatures. But these city treasures are not spread equally, and the results can be life-threatening.
In the 1930s, New York built grand public pools - symbols of civic pride that gave the city’s new immigrants a chance to stay cool. But these masterpieces have not kept up with the growing demand. In this excellent NYTimes deep dive, we learn that New York has less than 1 pool per 100,000 residents, far lower than comparable cities globally. Black and Latino children trail in access to swimming lessons and drown at higher rates. In fact, many of the city’s pools remain segregated, and facilities in low-income areas are often closed due to lack of staff. Speaking from personal experience, I grew up in a neighborhood where it took us an hour on the public bus to get to our “local” pool; I’m now a proud student taking adult swim lessons at the YMCA! These stories are in plain site across our communities, and we must utilize our resources to address these inequities head on.
The same is true for other public spaces - with libraries providing critical services such as internet or workforce training, but with stark differences in facilities in wealthy vs. poorer neighborhoods. Tree cover, which can reduce surface temperatures by 20 degrees on a hot summer day, can differ highly even by a few blocks. For example, vegetation covers 63% of wealthy Riverdale; a few neighborhoods to the south in low-income Mott Haven, only 18% of streets are green. Heat kills about 350 of our fellow New Yorkers every year, and black residents are twice as likely to die from heat as white residents according to city data.
Surface Temperature and Green Spaces across NYC. Data from Leaflet, OpenStreetMap, and CARTO.
A slew of new climate solutions are helping cities like New York understand these stark differences, and utilize data to make investments in the communities that need it most. Aclima maps and analyzes air pollution on a block-by-block basis, recently launching its service in Brooklyn. Gramener and Evergreen are working together to utilize geospatial analytics, artificial intelligence, and data visualization tools to examine urban heat islands across cities. Microsoft and the Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society, are developing an AI model to predict heat wave risks, thereby helping governments allocate limited disaster response resources.
So next weekend as you aim to cool down, think about what tools and resources can help policymakers, advocates, and our fellow neighbors achieve equity in an ever-warming world.
by Sonam Velani