Urban Heat Island
Little vegetation or evaporation causes cities
to remain warmer than the surrounding countryside

Description of Activities

The goal of this project is to develop and implement an urban heat island program for the City of Dallas that will both decrease heated surfaces and increase the permeability of surfaces in the Central City and other areas of Dallas.

Deliverables & Environmental Results

Reductions in evaporative air emissions from parked cars, reduced NOx emissions from power plants due to reduced building cooling requirements; plus reduced stormwater runoff:

• Develop and implement a comprehensive tree canopy management program (city has approximately $1 million worth of trees available for planting)
• Identify and implement financial-based incentive programs to encourage conversion of Central City property to permeable and shaded surfaces. Implement practical examples of cool (i.e., reflective) and/or green (i.e., vegetated) roofs and publicize positive results and implications
• Implement examples of heat island and stormwater runoff mitigation technologies including shaded, vegetated and permeable surfaces and bioswales
• Identify City ordinances that could be revised to help reduce the urban heat island effect and mitigate stormwater runoff in Dallas
• Use Federal ($65,464) & local ($1 million) matching funds

Project Timeline

• July 2007 – Stakeholders meeting
• July-September 2007 – Partner enlistment begins
• October-December 2007 – Recommendations for mitigation options, prioritization
• January-July 2008 – Outreach on options, solicit and receive implementation funding
• July 2008-June 2010 – Implementation, quantification, draft and final report on results

For More Information, contact Nicole Cooper, City of Dallas at (214) 670-6646.