How we’re using AI to help cities tackle extreme heat

It’s predicted that 2024 could outrank 2023 as the hottest year on record. These rising temperatures have a disproportionate impact on people who live in urban heat islands — areas where structures like roads and buildings absorb heat and re-emit it. Heat islands cause cities to heat up at twice the global average rate. This is especially detrimental to vulnerable communities including older people, children and those with chronic health conditions. For example, heat-related mortality for people 65 and older increased approximately 85% between 2017 and 2021.

To lower city temperatures and keep communities healthy, Google Research is continuing its efforts to use AI to build tools that help address extreme heat. Our new Heat Resilience tool applies AI to satellite and aerial imagery, helping cities to quantify how to reduce surface temperatures with cooling interventions, like planting trees and installing highly reflective surfaces like cool roofs.

A new AI tool to help cities make informed decisions

Quantifiable data is crucial for cities to identify their hottest, most vulnerable communities and prioritize where to implement cooling strategies. This new tool uses AI-powered object detection and other models to account for local characteristics, like how much green space a city has or how well the roofs on buildings reflect sunlight. This helps urban planners and local governments see the impact of cooling interventions right down to the neighborhood level. We’re piloting the tool in 14 U.S. cities, where officials are using it to identify which neighborhoods are most vulnerable to extreme heat and develop a plan to address rising temperatures.

We’ve seen how AI-informed insights can provide city officials and urban planners with the information they need to make impactful changes. Using the Heat Resilience tool, Miami-Dade county plans to develop policies that incentivize developers to take heat mitigation measures. In Stockton, California, the city has used an earlier version of Google’s Heat Resilience tool to gather data for potential projects and opportunities to reduce urban heat islands.

We hope to partner with more cities in the future to inform their cooling strategies and ultimately create safer, healthier and more sustainable communities.