New Tool to Understand Heat Vulnerability and Resilience in California

The California Healthy Places Index: Extreme Heat Edition is a tool which provides datasets on projected heat exposure for California, including place-based indicators measuring community conditions and sensitive populations.

1 minute read

June 27, 2022, 6:00 AM PDT

By Clement Lau


Thermometer infront of blurred image of street during heat wave

Marc Bruxelle / Heat wave

The Healthy Places Index (HPI), a resource developed by the Public Health Alliance of Southern California, is well-known as a powerful tool that can be used to explore community conditions that predict life expectancy, compare and rank scores at multiple California geographies, and learn about concrete and actionable policy solutions. 

There is now the Extreme Heat Edition of the HPI which is developed by the Public Health Alliance in partnership with the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation. This new tool provides datasets on projected heat exposure for California, including place-based indicators measuring community conditions and sensitive populations. It also provides a list of resources and funding opportunities that can be used to address extreme heat.

Specifically, the tool can be used to:

  • Understand underlying heat vulnerability and resilience characteristics of a community
  • Identify resources to mitigate adverse effects of extreme heat
  • Prioritize public and private investments, resources and programs

To learn more about the methodology and capabilities of the HPI: Extreme Heat Edition, please review the technical report.

Thursday, June 23, 2022 in UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs

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I love the variety of courses, many practical, and all richly illustrated. They have inspired many ideas that I've applied in practice, and in my own teaching.

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