Smartphone locations reveal patterns of cooling center use as a heat mitigation strategy

Heatwave adaptation conditioned by everyday life: Analyzing interacting changes to daily activities during Pacific Northwest summers

“…In an adaptation-specific mobility study, Derakhshan et al (2023) use cell phone mobility data to compare spatial patterns of smartphone locations between heat and control days during the summer of 2017 in Los Angeles County. They observe that 90% of visits to pre-defined cooling resources were to informal locations (ex.…”

“…The next rung in the hierarchy are 'essential' activities, such as grocery and pharmacy visits, which are necessary for household maintenance (Wen and Koppelman, 2000), but more flexible in the daily and weekly schedules of individuals. Finally, 'discretionary' activities such as retail, recreation, and park activity are the most flexible and the last to be scheduled, despite taking on important cooling roles during heatwaves (Widernyski et al, 2017;Derakhshan et al, 2023;Barnett-Itzhaki et al, 2023;Kabisch et al, 2021).…”

“…These inequalities manifest in the mobility behaviours of individuals during heatwaves -a complex, understudied process which shapes exposure to extreme heat. As extreme heat is estimated to cause 489,000 excess deaths globally every year (Zhao et al, 2021) and as heatwaves increase in intensity, frequency, and duration with human-induced climate change (Perkins-Kirkpatrick and Lewis, 2020), literature on extreme heat mobilities has been rapidly growing (Derakhshan et al, 2023;Stechemesser and Wenz, 2023;Ly et al, 2023;Gu et al, 2024;Tian et al, 2024). This literature has identified numerous adaptive mechanisms and intersections between heat exposure and existing inequalities.…”

The Authors Respond

“…Indeed, there is growing interest in creating community resilience hubs, 5–7 which “address gaps in services or resources in certain communities—both during and between disasters such as hurricanes, pandemics, or floods.” 8 Facilitating awareness of and access to large numbers of cool spaces that serve as informal cooling centers may also effectively complement (and be more highly utilized during heat events than) designated cooling centers. 9…”

“…8 Facilitating awareness of and access to large numbers of cool spaces that serve as informal cooling centers may also effectively complement (and be more highly utilized during heat events than) designated cooling centers. 9 The optimal and most costeffective strategies for reducing the adverse health impacts of extreme heat will likely differ across locations, populations, climates, and potentially over time. Although there is broad recognition of the utility of metrics to support evidence-informed decision-making, practitioners typically lack the required information regarding how heat exposure, vulnerability, and risk vary across individual, occupational, residential, and climate contexts.…”