The city of Dallas is taking steps to cool down the urban core. According to a release, the city has partnered with Smart Surfaces Coalition, a nonprofit dedicated to changing infrastructure to make urban areas cooler.

"Smart surfaces" include elements like trees, pavement, and roofs, which have an impact on the temperature within urban areas.

An analysis of Dallas by Smart Surfaces Coalition found that heavily urbanized areas of the city often were 14 degrees F hotter because of the abundance of dark, impervious surfaces such as roofs, roadways, and parking lots.

Their review of Dallas' surface infrastructure concluded that the city has approximately 333,000 roofs, 20,400 lane-miles of road, and 1,400 acres of parking lots. These impermeable surfaces absorb up to 95 percent of incoming solar radiation, heating up the city dangerously during summer months and exacerbating flooding issues.

Implementing "smart surfaces" — including trees, green stormwater infrastructure, porous and permeable pavements, and reflective roofs and roads — could reduce peak summer air temperatures by 3.1 to 6.9 degrees F in Dallas’ hottest neighborhoods.

Dallas will partner with the Smart Surfaces Coalition to identify the city’s hottest and most flood-prone pockets and to devise solutions to mitigate extreme heat and stormwater flooding.

Solutions include

• more trees and gardens
• using light-colored materials for roofing and roadways that will reflect sunlight away instead of absorbing it
• using porous pavement that allows rain to infiltrate the soil undeneath
• planting greenery on rooftops

“We are proud to partner with the city of Dallas to create solutions to make the city’s urban areas cooler, healthier, and safer for all residents, especially for outdoor workers, children, seniors, athletes and unhoused people,” says Smart Surfaces Coalition founder and CEO Greg Kats in a statement. “These strategies cut energy bills, protect vulnerable populations, and strengthen the economy.”

The Smart Surfaces Coalition consists of 40 national and international organizations commited to creating cooler, healthier, and more resilient cities by reducing the impacts of extreme urban heat and flooding. Partners include the World Resources Institute, Altostratus, Inc., Open Technologies, Trust for Public Land, and Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.

The coalition chose 10 candidate cities to partner with, based on factors like mayoral stability, size, population, disadvantaged census tracts, heat difference, and geographic diversity. Other cities include Phoenix, San Antonio, New Orleans, Atlanta, Boston, and Portland, Oregon.

Funding from Waverley Street Foundation and The JPB Foundation will enable the Smart Surfaces Coalition to deploy a three-year, Cities for Smart Surfaces Project. A tem of public health, data analytics, and energy efficiency policy experts will assist cities in reaching the coalition's goals to improve residents' health and well-being.

"Designing healthier cities is paramount in the reality of our rapidly warming world. Outdated, heat-trapping surfaces put millions at risk — especially in underserved neighborhoods,” says Georges C. Benjamin, MD, Executive Director, American Public Health Association.