Greener Corridors Part 3: Islands of Heat

Why NYC's Major Streets Must be More Climate Resilient

September 30, 2024

Islands of Heat is the third interactive story in MAS’s Greener Corridors initiative. Launched in early 2024, the initiative calls attention to New York City’s largest arterial roadways as an opportunity for the City to accomplish its biggest policy goals, including equitably mitigating the effects of climate change, improving public safety, and stimulating housing production.

Boston Road in the Bronx. Photo: Kade Van Meeteren. Modifications: photo cropped.

Islands of Heat explores how these corridors exacerbate the urban heat Island effect and increase the severity of flash flooding during extreme rainfall events. Rather than liabilities, the story argues that New York City’s largest thoroughfares have the potential to be a greater asset in the fight against climate change, but only if a more ambitious approach is taken to increasing trees and other vegetation along them.

Read Islands of Heat