Georgia Tech project helping Atlanta residents escape the heat

ATLANTA - It feels like there’s been no break in the heat for Atlanta residents. With temperatures steadily in the 90s, this time of year can be challenging, especially for those in underserved communities who have limited ways to escape the heat.

Experts at Georgia Tech are coming up with ways to give people safer and cooler ways to cool down for the summer months.

What we know:

In the middle of the dog days of summer in Georgia, it can feel like there’s no way to escape the heat. That can be especially true in underserved communities.

Rounaq Basu is an assistant professor of city and regional planning at Georgia Tech. He examines how people decide to get around and what obstacles might stand in their way. Right now, he's working on a way to help people beat the heat.

"We all feel it. We know the difference between walking along a street that has a lot of shade versus walking along a parking lot with no shade at all," he said.

Dig deeper:

There are multiple parts to his work, including street-level heat mapping. Their data can pinpoint the heat in a specific area and even break it down by the time of day.

"We're looking at locations in very populated cities and also areas that we see a lot of people walking and biking, and we're combining these data sets to get a better sense of where in a city or metro area you have high-risk locations," Basu said.

That information helps with what’s called the Cool Routes Map, a tool that helps people find the safest and most comfortable routes to get around.

"If you have a lot of features along the way, so very wide sidewalks, benches to sit on, trees that provide shade, shops to look in on if you want to do some window shopping, that's a more enjoyable experience, so that mile will feel less than a mile," he said.

Why you should care:

This information is specifically useful for heat-vulnerable communities.

"Some neighborhoods, unfortunately, historically are disinvested in. There's a lot of built-up area and not enough greenery, not enough quality infrastructure to use if you're a pedestrian or a biker," he said.

These obstacles make tasks like getting to work, the store, or even standing at the bus stop not just a hassle, but a danger to some when there are sky-high temperatures.

"With extreme heat, it's often called the silent killer. In the US, extreme heat has caused more fatalities than any other natural disaster," he said.

Local perspective:

The team isn’t just plugging the information in from their desks. They’re out in the streets, biking and walking the same routes using heat and air quality sensors to get exact measurements.

"These are high-risk areas that we are going to go out to with our sensors and what we are then going to do is we'll be walking or biking along those locations, whether there's shade from buildings or trees, and whether we see different temperatures at different times of the day to get a better measure of the urban heat island effect," he said.

Basu says this work is about making what can be one of the most difficult times of the year a little easier.

"We need to do more on that front to help people move around their communities, get places that they want to or need to get to, and that's why this work is important," he said.

What you can do:

The pilot programs are currently running in Atlanta and Boston. There are plans to expand the model to other urban areas dealing with extreme heat. 

If you’re interested in using the tools, you can email the team at noheat.georgiatech@gmail.com