Urban Sustainability
Sci – 275
10-10-14
Instructor: Karen Marasigan
By: Tyler Vesneski

The program that I chose to implement into my hometown is “How to Build a Cooler City.” “From 1878 to 2005, Los Angeles temperatures rose 4 degrees on average, climbing from around 62 degrees to 66 degrees.” Urban areas such as Downtown Los Angeles are likely to rise 4 to 4.5 degrees within the next 10 years. My goal is to cut the cost of electric energy and make the city of Los Angeles a much cooler place. The first challenge I will have is to go to city council and try to get them to back up my project and me. The next step would be to get a budget from the city and start working. I can lower the temperature of Los Angeles by implementing green roofs across the city and in particular downtown Los Angeles. The other is to lay down permeable material throughout alleyways and select streets. Both of these solutions have been used in Chicago to help lower the physical temperature of the city. For example the City Hall building in Chicago is half a regular black top roof and the other half a green roof. When measuring the temperature the black topside of the roof was about 160 degrees Fahrenheit, when on the other side of the same building, the green roof side, and the temperature dropped to about 80 degrees Fahrenheit. That is an 80-degree difference. The reason the roofing is such an issue is because all that heat is trapped on top of the building and then moves into the building which makes the it much hotter inside which creates more use of air conditioning, energy, and electricity. The next goal would be to have a “save our city” fundraiser where we can raise money for the project. I truly believe that people will want to contribute and participate given that this will eventually save them money through the cost of electricity as well as the comfort of living will be more enjoyable when inside their homes and offices. To me the implementation of green roofs alone is genius and I truly believe all cities that experience high heat and heat waves should make this update to their buildings. The other part of this project is turning the alleyways into a much cooler area. Just like Chicago, Los Angeles has alleys ways all across the city. In fact the backside of my apartment is in an alleyway and let me say that it gets extremely hot specifically in the alleyway. Heat is trapped within the small isle way of black concrete and cement. Most people garages and trashcans are in this alleyway. By repaving the concrete with a more breathable material it would cut down the amount of heat produced in the alley. And of course that heat is sucked right into all of our homes. Once I had some support from the city council, Los Angeles residents, and anyone else who would like to help, I would start the assembly of green roofs and breathable material to be paved through alleyways. Ideally 80 percent of Los Angeles would be covered with green roofs and permeable alleys ways. The main challenges would be the funding, and the constant construction within the city. Some others would be the management around such a large scaled project. It would take a long time to implement the roofing and alleyway flooring which makes the project hard to actually carry out. I would really need an entire team of people supporting and working on the project, funding the project, managing, and everything else that involves the reconstruction of an entire city. I believe that in time people will all see that the way we live now must change and the cost of that change involves money of course, but mainly different and more innovative ways to execute a better solution to our current problem. I truly hope that I can get this into effect and soon.

(2010.) Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-affect-on-los-angeles-2014-6?op=1#ixzz3FnEvhKiY