Phoenix leaders look to address relentless heat with more trees, shade structures

PHOENIX — The city of Phoenix is taking action in its fight against relentless heat by updating an existing plan to cool the streets with trees and shade structures.

The City Council voted Wednesday to update its 2010 Phoenix shade plan, which outlines strategies for cooling down neighborhoods and public spaces.

The new plan will pave the way for the planting of 27,000 new trees over the next five years.

“It’s essentially doubling the number of trees the city plants annually over that time frame,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday.

The city is working with local tree farms, which are growing native trees with deep roots that use less water, she said.

Additionally, Phoenix shade plan calls for 550 new shade structures, ranging from bus stops to art pieces.

“We all love the famous art pieces that remind people of Phoenix,” Gallego said. “But why not have ones that provide shade and make us more comfortable as well?”

Additionally, the city will encourage private developers to plant trees and set up structures to shade the streets.

“When I was first elected, we used to protect the sidewalk as the public space and say, ‘If you have a development near the sidewalk, you can’t build over it,'” Gallego “Now, we’re encouraging you to build shade, particularly where people are walking.”

Phoenix shade strategy follows historic heat wave

Shade makes a huge difference during summer months, she added.

2024 was the hottest meteorological summer — defined as June through August by the National Weather Service — in Phoenix history with an average of 98.9 degrees.

The Phoenix temperature also reached at least 110 degrees 70 times in 2024, another record for a year.

“What we saw this summer was very high low temperatures,” Gallego said. “It didn’t cool like it used to overnight.”

Part of this is due to the fact that black asphalt maintains heat overnight, she added.

“Trees can be very important in fighting what we call the urban heat island,” Gallego said. “We’ll design the city to be a little smarter because we just had 113 consecutive days at or above 100 degrees.”

Who’s paying for the plan to expand Phoenix shade?

Funding for the changes to the Phoenix shade plan will come from a combination of federal and local sources.

That includes money raised through general obligation bond approved by Phoenix voters last year.

“Unfortunately, summer is not going away,” Gallego said. “But we can make it easier to build buildings to be comfortable and with materials that won’t maintain the heat as much.”