Toward Equity in Heat Mitigation Planning: A Review of Literature, Current Practices, and Future Pathways

Publication Date

10-29-2025

Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Local Environment

DOI

10.1080/13549839.2025.2579597

Abstract

Extreme heat is becoming a critical climate-related hazard; however, its impacts are unevenly distributed across cities due to variations in built environment characteristics, access to green infrastructure, and levels of social and physical vulnerability. Although integrating equity into heat mitigation and adaptation planning is essential to address these disparities, the concept of equity remains underdeveloped and inconsistently applied in current planning practices. Through a review of literature on social equity and environmental justice, along with an analysis of several heat action plans from the most populated metropolitan areas in the United States, this study examines how equity has been conceptualised in the literature and operationalised in urban heat planning. Focusing on three key dimensions of environmental justice–distributional, procedural, and recognitional–this review highlights discrepancies in how equity is understood and applied. Findings indicate a dominant emphasis on distributional strategies, with limited attention to procedural and recognitional justice. This study clarifies distinctions among social equity, spatial equity, and equality in heat mitigation planning and advocates for a more reparative, trauma-informed approach that responds to both historically rooted inequities and community-specific needs. The recommended future directions are intended to support researchers and practitioners in more effectively integrating equity into heat mitigation planning.

Keywords

Distributive justice, equity, heat action plans, procedural justice, recognitional justice

Department

Environmental Studies

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