The San Fernando Valley city of Pacoima has found a new solution for the scorching heat and humidity
As temperatures in Los Angeles continue to rise to record-breaking highs for a sweltering weekend, one neighborhood is, quite literally, blazing a trail for a new way to deal with the heat.
The National Weather Service placed a heat advisory warning across L.A. County from Wednesday to Sunday, as temperatures are expected to reach 110 degrees. For San Fernando Valley’s Pacoima, this torridity is normal in the summer. Pacoima’s temperatures have sat in the 90s for almost the entirety of July, and the area is considered one of the hottest neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Pacoima, a low-income community which has historically been underinvested by the government, suffers from the urban heat island effect where roads and buildings absorb heat, increasing overall air temperatures.
To combat the September 2022 heatwave, nonprofit organization Climate Resolve and roofing manufacturer GAF partnered together to launch the GAF Cool Community Project in Pacoima.
The project used reflective material called DuraShield-SR to coat black asphalt pavement in order to effectively disperse urban heat. Over 700,000 square feet of streets, playgrounds and parking lots were coated and monitored for California’s Urban Heat Island Index.
The project participated in a study for a year, where findings found surface temperatures dropped by more than 16 degrees Fahrenheit in some locations and air temperatures dropped by 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
Since Pacoima saw a 25-50% reduction in the urban heat island effect, Climate Resolve is looking to expand the project to include cool roofs and solar shingles to lower temperatures further.
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The study also found the reflective pavement had little effect on making conditions uncomfortable for pedestrians and did not create a significant glare.
Despite this, reflective pavement is not the entire solution. V. Kelly Turner, an associate director of UCLA’s Luskin Center for Innovation and professor of urban planning and geography, emphasizes the importance of other solutions as well.
“I think cities should see reflective pavement as one tool among many, if deployed comprehensively, that could mitigate the regional urban heat island,” Turner said. “They should see this goal as parsimonious from the public health goal of protecting people’s bodies from the sun.”
Greenery, shade and underground cooling pipes, according to National Geographic, are important practices that other areas like Singapore and Athens have implemented. Ladd Keith, director of the University of Arizona’s Heat Resilience Initiative, emphasized the importance of the planning that goes into the execution of green spaces.
But for Pacoima, an area with less than 20% tree coverage and lacking green spaces, reflective pavement has proved effective thus far for residents.
“At the end of the day, extreme heat affects everyone through quality of life: whether your children can play outside, whether you can exercise, the amount of money you spend on air conditioning, energy and water,” Keith said to National Geographic.