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Phoenix expands cooling centers, shade and tree‑planting as heat response
Summary
Mayor Kate Gallego announced 24‑hour cooling centers, a larger shade‑tree plan and innovative cooling technology for unsheltered residents as part of the city's summer heat strategy.
Mayor Kate Gallego said the city is expanding heat‑relief services and infrastructure after citing decreases in heat‑related 911 calls tied to last year’s programs.
Gallego said last year the city opened a 24‑hour cooling center, expanded a chilled drinking water pilot and that heat‑related 911 calls fell by 20% as a result. She said at heat respite centers Phoenix teams helped move more than 900 people into stable shelter, nearly 100 of whom were children.
For the coming season, the city opened a 24‑hour downtown cooling center with a children’s play area and pet yard and will provide wraparound services. The mayor highlighted a shelter‑adjacent innovation at the Keys for Change campus using Steel and Spark’s cooling tower design — vertical shipping containers equipped with fans and misters — to cool the unsheltered population.
On physical heat mitigation, Gallego announced a five‑year Shade Phoenix plan with 27,000 new trees and 550 shade structures at parks, schools and bus stops, in partnership with Bloomberg Associates and supported in part by Inflation Reduction Act funds used via a city revolving fund for clean energy projects. She said nearly 8,000 trees were planted last year and almost 50 playgrounds have received new shade structures.
The mayor called on state and federal partners to do more on heat responses and thanked Chandler for opening an overnight cooling center this summer.
