Smart Surfaces for Hot-Dry Climates: An Indicative Case Study of Stockton, California
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Report Summary
In summer 2021, California experienced its hottest summer on record—with even hotter summers predicted for the future. Cities across the state and around the country face similar challenges. To mitigate the challenges brought on by increasing heat, cities must adopt city-wide cooling strategies that reduce heat, enhance environmental justice and equity, cut health costs, mitigate flooding, and decrease climate change related risk.
Stockton, named America’s most diverse city by U.S News & World Report in 2020, is a mid-sized city in the middle of California’s hot- and mixed-dry climate zone, which makes it a representative city with which to evaluate the question: Is there a way to effectively and cost-effectively deliver substantial cooling, health, environmental justice, and climate benefits to cites in hot and dry areas of California, the surrounding region, and the world?
This report finds that Smart Surfaces can provide an effective way to deliver substantial cooling, health, and climate benefits to cities in hot-dry climates. Even with modest surface targets and conservative benefits assumptions, Smart Surfaces adoption benefits for Stockton are tremendous (see below).
Given California’s worsening heat, equity, and climate challenges, the State must adopt measures such as city-wide cooling to cut air conditioning demand, reduce air and water pollution, and lessen climate impacts. To ensure cities and towns in hot, dry climates remain livable and vibrant, they must adopt Smart Surfaces as an essential, effective, and cost-effective strategy for achieving these objectives.
Select testimonials
Dennis Murphy, Director of Water & Sustainable Life at Sustainable Silicon Valley, former Chair of USGBC California:
“California is trying to solve multiple problems simultaneously: rising heat, inequality, clean air & water, and making cities and neighborhoods more resilient and sustainable. What this Stockton report demonstrates is that Smart Surfaces is a very effective and cost-effective way to address all these challenges. We can no longer take a business-as-usual approach to city planning and public investment; Smart Surfaces is an urgently needed alternative. The Smart Surface Coalition’s study offers great clarity in solving the tricky math of valuing urban and suburban surfaces, which is critical for governments trying to stretch their budget dollars longer and wider. The Stockton case study demonstrates a very effective pathway for urban cooling, equity, and resilience, and demonstrates how we can put this into action across California’s hot and dry climates that are suffering and need help now. We have a choice between suffering and thriving; Californians should choose to prioritize health, equity, and prosperity, and adopt this strategy ASAP.”
Greg Spotts, Chief Sustainability Officer and Assistant Director of StreetsLA, City of Los Angeles:
“We have off-the-shelf solutions for urban heat, and we can drive down the cost of these solutions by taking them to scale. I believe every major city in California needs a heat action plan that focuses efforts on improving health and quality of life in historically underserved neighborhoods. The Stockton Report is a great step to guide policy makers to take action.”