If the city is going to help residents stay safe during the blistering summer heat, it needs to plant more trees and create additional greenspace, protect outdoor workers and provide more cooling centers during extreme weather.
Those are among the top recommendations ranked by about 500 Chicagoans in a survey conducted by Northwestern University, the researchers said Tuesday.
The Northwestern-led project known as Defusing Disasters studied tens of thousands of data points over the past two years to help inform the recommendations on the survey.
The city said it will take the findings and continue to complete its own research to come up with better planning and response to extreme heat.
The Northwestern researchers asked residents to choose up to seven recommendations among a list of 30 ideas as part of an effort to improve the city’s response to heat waves. The initiative comes 30 years after a historic Chicago heat wave left more than 700 people dead.
Survey respondents said neighborhoods should also have emergency shelter and cooling locations. Bus and train stops need water stations and possibly misting features for cooling. The city should have tough laws on making sure apartment buildings have cool spots for tenants. And indoor workers must be protected from heat, too, respondents said.
City officials said they will review the Northwestern findings and also continue to survey more people to get a broad range of views on how best to keep Chicagoans safe during extreme heat.
Through Tuesday there have been 11 days of temperatures 90 degrees or higher this year, including successive days of oppressive heat. That’s one less day than the same period last year.
The Northwestern researchers are also providing Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration with initial findings of what they call a “heat vulnerability index.” It identifies the hottest areas of the city where people are most vulnerable to getting sick or dying from extreme heat.
The findings show a swath of extremely vulnerable communities that span the South and Southwest areas of the city that run roughly from Archer Heights on the West and Chinatown on the East.
People in communities in between, including Brighton Park, Gage Park and New City, are at high risk of heat-related illness or death because of a combination of factors that include demographics, socioeconomic status and the extreme heat, a research presentation shows.
The Southwest Side communities are a distance from Lake Michigan, lack trees and other green amenities.
By understanding each community, city policy makers can tailor planning and response better by understanding how some areas of the city have unique characteristics that leave some more susceptible.
“It’s not a one-size fits all for all parts of the city,” said Teresa Horton, a Northwestern researcher involved with Defusing Disasters.
“We’re not just trying to state the most obvious,” Horton added.
In 2023, Chicago took part in a citywide heat measurement study led by the federal government that found that the Southwest Side was indeed the hottest part of the city. In fact, Archer Heights was a full 22 degrees hotter than Rogers Park during one hot summer day.
Contributing: Amy Qin