Researchers at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health developed an online tool to determine how extreme heat can affect community health in different neighborhoods. The online tools, which are available at www.Uclaheatmaps.org, feature several elements to ensure the map and its outputs are easy to understand and widely accessible to users. This includes a unique health and heat risk map that will help the City of Los Angeles target resources to the most vulnerable areas and adapt measures based on regional priority.
“We’re releasing the tool for public beta testing for two reasons. First, we believe that the data we’re making available is critically important to protect people’s health now. And secondly, we want to understand how we can make this tool as useful as possible to California communities and policymakers,” said Dr. David Eisenman, Fielding School professor of community health sciences and co-director of the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions and the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters — and also a member of the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge Faculty Advisory Cabinet.
This project is funded by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation and the Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, and is a joint effort of the UCLA Center for Healthy Climate Solutions and the UCLA Center for Public Health and Disasters. The tool also adds to UCLA’s set of climate resources — including a recent study by the Luskin Center for Innovation that highlights gaps in municipal planning for often dangerous heat.
Read more about this heat-detection tool at the Fielding school of Public Health.
Image Source: UCLA Fielding school of Public Health
