About This Project

UCCP is a comprehensive urban heat mitigation framework with three mandatory components: (1) Urban Tree Canopy Equity Standard — cities must achieve minimum 20% tree canopy coverage in all residential neighborhoods within 15 years, with accelerated timelines for neighborhoods currently below 10%. (2) Cool Surface Mandate — all new and re-roofed buildings in cities above 500,000 population must use cool roofs (reflectivity >0.65); all new roads must use cool pavement materials by 2030. (3) Heat Refuge Network — every urban resident must be within 400m of a designated, air-conditioned heat refuge with backup power during extreme heat events. These three components together can reduce peak urban temperature by 2-4°C — enough to prevent the majority of heat-related deaths during extreme events.

Timeline