Parks and Their Shade Help People Stay Healthy and Cool

Massachusetts had the third hottest year ever in 2024 (2023 was tied for the hottest). The rest of New England had the hottest year in more than 130 years. Our weather is getting warmer, and we are having more heat waves that last longer and feel hotter. This new climate causes more physical-heat stress on people in Cambridge, during the day and often at night. Because of this, our parks and the shade they provide are very important. They help keep people cool and give everyone a safe place to rest.

Shade plays a crucial role in cities for mitigating heat and creating a more comfortable environment on summer days, particularly in the context of increasing urban heat islands and rising temperatures. Shade from trees, and even buildings, significantly reduces surface temperatures and lowers the ambient air temperature, which in turn enhances comfort for anyone outdoors, including pedestrians and cyclists.

Recent projects like Cool Spots, Shade is Social Justice, and the City Heat Sensor project (in collaboration with MIT) show how Cambridge is using art, design, and public space to help people stay cool and healthy.

Shade is Social Justice is a public art and climate resilience program funded by an Accelerating Climate Resiliency grant from MAPC. This initiative frames shade as an equity issue: neighborhoods with fewer trees and less access to cooling infrastructure, like parks, experience higher temperatures and greater health risks during heat waves. Shade is Social Justice commissioned artists and designers to create temporary shade structures that are both functional and expressive, using art to shift public perception about heat and climate change. Installations have appeared at Jill Brown-Rhone Park (Lafayette Square), Brattle Square, Hoyt Field, Donnelly Field, and Russell Field, with each site hosting a unique design that provides shade, seating, and community gathering space.

Cool Spots launched in 2025 to provide shaded, comfortable places for residents to rest and gather during extreme heat. The first round of Cool Spots installations included four pilot locations—Sennott Park, Greene-Rose Heritage Park, Cambridge Common, and Donnelly Field—each offering shaded seating and social spaces designed to help residents cool down and rest during the summer months. The project was funded through the City’s Participatory Budgeting process, specifically the 2024 proposal “Shaded Seats on Hot Streets”.

In the summer of 2025, the City of Cambridge and the MIT Office of Sustainability set up a network of air-temperature sensors. These sensors were placed in both sunny and shaded areas in Porter Square, Central Square, Hoyt Park, the Court/Yard on Cambridge Street, and outdoor areas on the MIT campus. The City and MIT are studying the data to learn how hot different places get, how humidity affects heat, and how shade helps cool public spaces. This information will help the City make better plans for parks and outdoor comfort in the future.

Together, these projects show that Cambridge sees parks as important cooling spaces. By using art, community ideas, and smart design, the City is creating shaded, welcoming places that help everyone stay safe, connected, and cool as our summers get hotter.

*Sensors do not contain cameras or motion detection capabilities. The only data collected by the sensors are date, time, temperature, and humidity. The data is only for information and planning purposes.