COOL – Urban Heat Sensor Network

COOL stands for Community-led, Open-source, Opportunities to Learn (COOL) is a community-centered climate adaptation and learning initiative designed to address the Urban Heat Island effect in frontline neighborhoods disproportionately impacted by extreme heat. Grounded in the principles of community leadership, open-source technologies, and place-based learning, the project works alongside residents and local organizations in Little Haiti (Miami, Florida) and Ivy City (Washington, D.C.) to generate hyperlocal heat and air quality data that informs equitable heat mitigation strategies, urban planning, and public health action.

Community-Led Heat Monitoring and Learning

COOL establishes a neighborhood-scale mesonet using low-cost, open-source heat sensors and air quality monitors deployed across rooftops, streets, and shared public spaces. These deployments capture fine-scale temperature variation often missed by traditional citywide weather stations. In Little Haiti, the project partners with PowerU to support community-led sensor placement and data collection, ensuring that monitoring reflects lived experiences of heat exposure in dense urban environments with limited green infrastructure.

Current data collection includes:

• Five PurpleAir sensors deployed for three months in Little Haiti, Florida

• BLE heat sensors installed across key community locations

• Three community visits and resident interviews to contextualize sensor data with lived experience

From Data to Action: A Phased Approach

COOL follows a multi-phase model that links technology, learning, and action:

• Phase 1: Community deployment of heat sensors and baseline data collection

• Phase 2: Training youth and residents in GIS and Python analytics to analyze localized temperature patterns

• Phase 3: Collaboration with planners, advocates, and community leaders to recommend data-driven cooling strategies, including reflective surfaces, expanded tree canopy, and neighborhood cooling zones

This approach builds scientific literacy, technical capacity, and community ownership of climate adaptation strategies.

Advancing Heat Justice and Urban Resilience

By combining open-source technologies with culturally responsive approaches, COOL produces actionable evidence that strengthens community advocacy and supports municipal decision-making. The project demonstrates how locally generated data can shape heat mitigation policies while expanding access to STEM learning and advancing long-term climate resilience in frontline neighborhoods.

Areas of Need: Expanding BLE heat sensor deployment, sustaining long-term monitoring, supporting student and resident training, scaling data analysis, and strengthening partnerships with local governments for policy adoption and implementation.