How Vulnerable Houston Neighborhoods Can Beat the Heat

December 13, 2025

Researchers have developed a new tool to help cities looking for strategies to keep vulnerable neighborhoods cooler as heatwaves become more intense. 

The new physics-based computer modeling framework integrates indices of human comfort and social vulnerability with heat island mitigation strategies and a state-of-the-art urban climate modeling system.

When the researchers applied the index to Houston, they discovered that trees, rather than roof treatments, provided the best relief from the heat in the most vulnerable areas. Vulnerability is assessed based on sensitivity factors such as socioeconomic status, household composition, and minority status as well as adaptive capacity factors such as housing type and access to transportation.

Researchers considered three different heat island mitigation strategies: painting roofs white to increase solar reflectance; planting vegetation on roofs to increase evaporation through the plants; and planting more trees, which increases evaporation and provides shade. 

The tool — the universal thermal comfort index — determines human comfort based on temperature, humidity, wind speed and radiation. The researchers said it could be used in any community.