MITIGATING NEW YORK CITY'S HEAT ISLAND Integrating Stakeholder Perspectives and Scientific Evaluation

Heat island mitigation benefits from the collaboration between researchers and stalkeholders, interdisciplinary methods, and neighborhood-scale strategies that account for local priorities and constraints are discussed. The broad range of links between heat island mitigation and other local environmental policy goals provided an opportunity to bring together stakeholders with an interest in understanding how their specific mandates and priorities might overlap with the objectives that NYSERDA and Con Edison hoped to achieve through heat island mitigation. The designation of urban air temperature encompasses the effect of a heterogeneous mix of land surface cover, including variation in the height of built surfaces and vegetation, on surface air temperature within the urban canopy layer. Recommendations based on the integration of stakeholder perspectives and scientific knowledge include conducting additional analyses to value energy benefits of the mitigation scenarios, and include other benefits of mitigation strategies, such as air quality, public health, stormwater runoff, and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, in cost benefit analyses.