Paper short abstract:

What is a heat "wave"? Does our historical understanding of heat waves, and how to deal with them, leave us poorly prepared for urban climate impacts?

Paper long abstract:

Over the past few years I have worked with a number of community organizations in Cincinnati that are attempting to mitigate or address climate impacts in "front line" and/or historically marginalized urban neighborhoods. Many of these discussions are based on helping communities develop plans to deal with increased urban heating. These conversations however, and most importantly the policy interventions proposed, frame climate change as mostly causing more urban heat "waves": Discreet moments in time when temperatures become significantly higher, increasing the likelihood of health issues. This means that proposals focus on expanding existing heat event interventions - like cooling centers or distributing free fans - rather than rethinking how significant summer temperature increases will impact Cincinnatians long term, and how to adjust all aspects of city and public health planning to address these issues.

Obviously this is more of a contemporary policy and political issue, but I think history can inform this discussion. How have we constructed the idea of the "heat wave" in the past, and what are the social and political factors that led to the development of certain interventions for lower-income communities? Overall what can this tell us about how climatic changes - in the past, present and future - can upend and rewrite our perceptions of time? I would be excited to participate in this workshop because I think the historical experience of urban heat is vital tool for helping us understand – and plan for – our warming world.