Last week, officials briefed the Dallas Environmental Commission on the Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability’s two-year heat-island mapping project results. The project found that many of Dallas’ urban neighborhoods experience summer temperatures 12 degrees hotter than the city’s greener areas. The project describes built-up areas with industrial land uses, a higher degree of housing density and highway infrastructure as urban, as opposed to neighborhoods with more trees, parks and green space.
The survey was conducted by volunteers across 350 square miles of Dallas in August 2023 and 2024. The volunteers traveled along assigned routes in the morning, midday and evening to collect temperature data using an infrared thermometer.
Developed industrial areas like Downtown Dallas, West Dallas and the Interstate 35 corridor south of Interstate 30 recorded the hottest temperatures across the city, and the study found nearly two dozen examples of neighborhoods suffering from an urban heat island effect. “Heat islands” describe areas that experience a significant temperature differential compared to surrounding communities, generally due to a lack of cooling green space and a heavy presence of pavement that absorbs heat.
District 1 Environmental Commissioner Katherine Homan believes the data shows what those living in her neighborhood and the surrounding area “already knew.” Homan told the Observer she feels it is “her job” to ensure city leaders use the heat mapping data in several areas, including land use and resource planning.
"We have a hot summer coming up. Climate change is taking over, and we're subject to the heat effects that are just getting worse and worse, and if we know the hardest hit areas, we should be jumping on getting them served as soon as possible,” Homan said. “I have a sense of urgency about this."
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, extreme heat has been a leading cause of weather-related deaths in the United States for the last three decades. Officials told the commission the data could be used by city leaders charged with allocating cooling resources or weather relief shelters for the unhoused in the summer months.
After the first round of temperature checks in 2023, Bishop Arts, West Dallas and the Medical District — three of the city’s hottest neighborhoods — were flagged for environmental justice concerns.
Some West Dallas residents have been sounding the alarm on environmental justice issues for years, arguing that neighborhood pollutants are contributing to an increased risk of cancer diagnosis and respiratory illnesses in the community. In addition to pollution, the highways, train tracks, and industrial plants throughout West Dallas are also contributing to concentrating heat throughout the day, according to the mapping survey.
In last week's meeting, Barry Lachman, environmental commissioner for District 12, said that the survey results should be considered alongside health data to evaluate the relationship between heat islands and the rate of “asthma for children or other effects of the environment.”
It’s Not Easy Getting Greener
Tree shading and pocket parks proved to be key factors in keeping temperatures down across the city; Dallas’ coolest sector is its southeastern quadrant, which is shaded by the Great Trinity Forest. The Office of Environmental Quality and Sustainability recommended using the heat mapping data in Dallas’ effort to increase the canopy cover while also protecting existing trees.Homan said the clear need for green space adds a sticking point in Dallas’ push for housing density. Although she recognizes development is badly needed across the region, she is concerned it could be pursued at the expense of tree cover or lawns, which help absorb rainwater before it can become toxic runoff and contribute to cooling temperatures.
"There is hardly any green in the Bishop Arts area. We have paved it over with either buildings or roads,” Homan said. “Even though it is a popular place, it's a very successful place; it is a hot place, literally, because of the density."
On the neighborhood level, green initiatives are becoming more trendy across Dallas. In addition to sitting on the Environmental Commission, Homan is the president emeritus for the Fort Worth Avenue Development Group which advocates in zoning matters pertaining to the industrialized Fort Worth Avenue corridor in North Oak Cliff.
After some back-and-forth between neighbors and developers, a Sprouts grocery store was approved for the corridor in 2023 and is set to open this year. One of the group’s biggest wins when it came to negotiating the site plan, Homan said, is incorporating bio-swales throughout the parking lot that will help capture and filter water while cooling the heat that a large asphalt lot absorbs.
Homan would like to see similar initiatives explored on the city level, although she knows some developers would balk at the environmental requirements she’d like to institute. In last week’s meeting, Homan also asked about the city’s “cool pavement” pilot project that launched in 2023 and found the sealant technology could help mitigate the heat island effect by up to 10 degrees.
An update on the program is planned for the Environmental Commission’s April 9 meeting.
“When push comes to shove, they say you've got to break eggs to make an omelet,” Homan said. “Some kind of balance needs to be struck.”
_______________
The map from the 2024 Heat Island Mapping project has not been released yet, but this map from the 2023 Heat Island Mapping project gives some insight as to where things stand currently.
