Today aside, New York City in the summertime is one hot place.  They don’t call it a concrete jungle for nothing.

The top map (from NASA) shows just how hot it is on a micro level, while the bottom shows the density of vegetation.

As you can see, the more living green things there are on a block or in a neighborhood, the cooler it is.

And those cooler spots are important not only for sweet relief and peace of mind, but for public safety (vulnerable populations suffer disproportionately during heat waves), and for energy conservation, especially during peak days when Con-Ed struggles to keep up with demand.

It’s no wonder that one of the ten core goals of PlaNYC 2030 is to ensure that every New Yorker lives within a 10-minute walk of a park by 2030.