Melting Metropolis

Summer heat has long ushered in a season of outdoor fun in New York City. It is a season of open fire hydrants, ice cream cones, and days spent at Coney Island and Rockaway beaches or Astoria Pool. But summer heatwaves can disrupt urban life and negatively impact community health and wellbeing. As part of a larger exploration of urban heat in post-1945 London, New York and Paris, this study explores histories of urban heat and health. This team is working with the Queens Memory Project to reach local audiences in Queens and to have a preservation partner for the work products and crowd-sourced archival donations coming from the project’s outreach and programming efforts.

This project seeks to deepen understandings of climate justice and experiences of urban climate through engagement with affected communities and historical sources. The following questions motivate Melting Metropolis: How have city dwellers responded to formal (i.e. public health, municipal) policies and practices related to heat and health? How have they embraced heat and sought to protect themselves from it? How can a historical perspective on heat can inform current or planned interventions into improving urban health that go beyond “resilience”?