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This year Phoenix had more than 100 consecutive days of temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Summer 2024 was the hottest summer in history, with 15 national temperature records set around the globe.
The far-reaching impacts of extreme heat are well-documented and inequitable. It is the leading cause of weather-related deaths. People living in urban areas are subject to the amplifying effects of urban heat islands, but it’s low-income communities of color within those urban areas who experience them even more.
As a result, adapting to and preparing for continued extreme heat events is critical, especially in cities. One area that’s often overlooked when it comes to extreme heat mitigation is playgrounds, which are ripe with tangential health benefits when they’re available and safe to use. “Through our research, we’ve seen that high temperatures are associated with lower levels of physical activity of children,” explains Dr. Kevin Lanza, assistant professor of environmental sciences at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. Low levels of physical activity are linked to a suite of physical and mental ailments in kids that can stretch into adulthood.
Yet, just 24% of kids between 6 and 17 years old get the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity each day in the U.S. — and extreme heat plays a role in those numbers. Take recess, for example. “We know that recess is a time when kids want to be active. It’s a mental break and a physical break from classroom time. Even during these periods when [kids] want to be active, we’re seeing a lower level of physical activity during higher temperatures,” Lanza says.
The key, he says, is transforming playspaces so that they’re heat-ready so that kids and their communities can still use them and get the benefits of physical activity and play even when the mercury climbs.
“Extreme heat is a forcing mechanism, unfortunately, that’s impacting the healthy development of children,” explains Jen DeMelo, vice president of innovation and strategic partnerships at KABOOM!, a national nonprofit working to address playspace inequity. “We want kids to play. If it’s too hot outside, which is what we’re hearing, they’re not able to play outside. So it’s our responsibility to make sure that they can.”
One way that KABOOM! is helping to ensure that kids can play outside is by using various data to identify communities that are experiencing the worst effects of heat on playgrounds. By combining First Street Foundation’s Heat Factor index and the Playspace Inequity Prioritization Index (PIPI), KABOOM! can map areas throughout the United States that need new playgrounds with heat mitigation components, such as shade.
“One of the things we do is use cellphone data to get an estimate of how many people are using playgrounds and how long they’re staying on playgrounds,” explains Isaac Castillo, senior advisor of learning and evaluation at KABOOM!. “One of our initial findings is that shade can make a difference. In the initial research we’ve done, we’ve seen [about] a 10% increase in the length of time spent on a playground if there’s shade versus if there’s not shade.”
Shade can be increased in playspaces through both natural and artificial means. A tree canopy is a great option, but because newly planted trees can take time to grow, artificial shade structures that attach to the playground itself can help add shade, too.
Another way to decrease temperatures on playgrounds is to consider the materials they’re made of. “Traditional playspaces here in the U.S. are made of plastic and steel. Those surfaces get incredibly hot,” DeMelo says. Using more natural materials like wood, rope and Corkeen, which is made from cork, can help ward off burns, especially when young kids are involved. “Younger children’s skin is thinner, so it burns faster and at lower temperatures. Plus, they don’t have as much life experience to recognize and react to dangerously hot surfaces,” Castillo adds.
In partnership with the Oakland Unified School District and the Eat.Learn.Play Foundation, KABOOM! is building new playspaces and crafting nature exploration areas where asphalt is being removed and replaced with mulch, trees, and grasses. “We’re creating little oases of natural elements where [kids] can hang out and experience their schoolyard a bit differently,” DeMelo says. Choosing brighter colors like yellows over darker colors like blacks and navies can also reduce playground temperatures. “Lighter colors will drop the temperature of those items by 20 or 30 degrees Fahrenheit,” Castillo explains.
Encouraging breaks by including benches that are ideally located in the shade and adding cooling elements like GeoCool, an outdoor fan that harnesses geothermal energy, and water elements are other ways to cool playspaces down. While the upkeep that comes with water features like splash pads can worry some city managers, Lanza notes that they add another play component into the mix, which kids tend to love.
The KABOOM! team says that another way to incorporate nature into playspaces and to make them cooler is by integrating natural features like logs and stumps from the immediate area as it did with San Francisco’s Heron’s Head Park. The park’s Nature Exploration Area is a 12,000-square-foot space that uses logs, stumps, and boulders to enhance equitable access to play in a part of the city that’s experienced chronic disinvestment.
But if playspaces that can still be used during extreme heat are going to be as beneficial as possible, the last step is to ensure that the broader community where they’re located can access and enjoy them. “This brings in the idea of joint use agreements where school districts and local governments have an agreement that, outside of school hours, these school parks are open to community members,” Lanza notes.
Even as temperatures rise, playgrounds can serve as spaces for community building, encouraging physical activity and social interaction. To ensure these spaces are usable in a future with extreme heat, KABOOM! is doing the work to invest in them now.