Climate Change Adaptation: Extreme Heat Mapping and Planning Response

The June 2021 heat dome in British Columbia proved unprecedented and resulted in the loss of 619 lives in the province. This event underscored the critical need for municipal agencies and allied departments to enhance their emergency preparedness efforts for heat protection and mitigation. In response, we present a proactive approach aimed at addressing climate change-related hazards. Our initiative involves a comprehensive heat mapping analysis designed to pinpoint areas (parcel-blocks) particularly susceptible to extreme heat. Our primary objective is to assist the City of Mission (British Columbia) and its neighboring First Nations community, Leqamel First Nations, in bolstering their readiness and response capabilities to extreme heat events. The initial phase of our project focused on exclusive mapping, encompassing five distinct tasks that leveraged the spatial analysis tools in ArcGIS. We established a vulnerability index for our target areas, integrating socio-economic and demographic factors to compute estimates. These estimates were then visualized as attributes of the Mission Mapping Units, highlighting the most vulnerable parcel-blocks by normalizing these values into scores ranging from 1 to 10. Utilizing these score maps, we proposed a tailored planning response for the designated region. The resultant models serve as valuable resources for urban planners and policymakers, enabling them to evaluate the ramifications of extreme heat and formulate effective urban heat mitigation strategies tailored to local conditions and the needs of multiple agencies.

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