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DETROIT MI

Heat Resilience Starts Here: Cooling Detroit's Bus Stops

Most public transit stops in Detroit are exposed to scorching heat in the summertime. State-of-the-art shade data can guide smart investments that improve walkability and make Detroit a cooler place to live and visit.
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Detroit may be known for its cold winters, but summer heat can pose a deadlier threat.

Heat is now the leading cause of weather-related deaths in the U.S., claiming an estimated 12,000 lives annually.1 In Detroit, the number of days above 90 degrees is likely to increase from 7.7 days per year (1991-2020) to as many as 30 days per year by midcentury.2
In Detroit, the risks are amplified. Fewer than 60% of households have air conditioning, and cooling center capacity is limited.

A 2023 study estimates that a 5-day, 95°F heat wave could result in over 220 deaths in Detroit if the power fails — or 100 deaths even with the grid intact. In fact, Detroit's mortality rate is much higher than cities with widespread AC.3 With frequent power grid failures and high utility costs, residents face a heightened risk.
Extreme heat hits hardest for children, seniors, those with health conditions or limited resources — but life doesn't pause for a heat wave. People still need to work, attend appointments and run errands.

Detroit's 85,000 daily transit riders are particularly at risk — most transit stops lack shade, leaving riders exposed to direct sun and hot sidewalks.
That's why shade is essential, not optional. Shade from trees and structures can make heat burden — the total heat we experience from the air, humidity, radiation and more — feel up to 50% cooler4 and ease strain on energy grids — a necessity as cities face rising heat.

UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation

To help Detroit tackle this issue, American Forests and UCLA's Luskin Center for Innovation partnered to create comprehensive shade data for the city, now available through the Detroit Tree Equity Score Analyzer.

Using LIDAR and Microsoft Building Footprint data, we can model how sunlight interacts with trees and the built environment on the longest day of the year — June 21 — at noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
UCLA Luskin Center's raw shade data at noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
We can use the data to analyze shade at Detroit's bus stops. The data reveals a stark reality: shade is scarce at most public transit stops.
An unsheltered bus stop in Detroit. Photo: Joel Clark / American Forests.
Of the 5,098 bus stops in Detroit, only 232 (<5%) have shelters. Nearly 90% of all stops have poor shade with a maximum of 0-25% coverage when the sun is lowest, and even less during midday hours.

And while bus shelters do offer protection from rain, wind and snow, shelters don't mean a stop has significantly more shade.
↓ Interactive chart: Hover for more info. Toggle to switch from noon to 6 p.m. shade.
Vegetation (primarily trees) and built features provide more shade to bus stops than shelters. And trees provide most of the shade, especially when the sun is highest.

Trees also offer more than shade — they clean the air, boost mental health, reduce noise and cool the surroundings by evaporating water from their leaves. Research also shows that trees make public transit more appealing and make wait times feel shorter.5
↓ Interactive chart: Hover for more info. Toggle to switch between noon, 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. shade.
Compare these two bus stops below. The stop on the left lacks direct shade but a nearby building offers a shady place to wait in the morning hours. The stop on the right benefits from overhanging trees that provide shade throughout the day.
Shade data can inform where trees and engineered shade can improve walkability and make busy streets safer in the heat.
Now you can explore the data yourself. Does your bus stop have enough shade?

Drag the slider for different time stamps. Double click to zoom in to see bus stops. Hover to get information about shade coverage.
Bus shelters don't add much shade, but trees and engineered shade can extend shade to keep riders cool. One study finds that increasing tree canopy over roadways to 50% could reduce heat-related deaths by 19% in Detroit.3

Roadway trees also calm traffic, reduce vehicle speeds6 and help absorb traffic pollutants that are made worse by stagnant air during a heat wave.
Detroit is already taking steps to add more shade. Organizations like The Greening of Detroit and the City of Detroit are spearheading initiatives to plant the right kinds of trees along busy transit routes. These trees will grow to provide the shade that riders of a warming future will desperately need. Adding trees near homes and yards can also help reduce air conditioning bills.

The challenge: where can trees and shade structures make the most impact?
You can use the Detroit Tree Equity Score Analyzer to identify opportunities to improve cooling infrastructure. This tool can be used to plan shade improvement projects for many types of priority sites, including parks, playgrounds, streetscapes, greenways and schoolyards.
TESA iPad interface
  1. Visit Tree Equity Score Analyzer.
    • Log in or create a free account.
  2. Search for an address or point of interest.
    • Zoom in to the property-level.
    • Open the Layers list to view estimates of shade cover from trees and built features.
  3. Visualize opportunities for improvement.
    • Identify hotspots where trees or engineered shade structures could make the biggest impact.
When it comes to extreme heat, shade isn't just about comfort — it's about survival. Using natural and engineered shade infrastructure, the city can transform hot spots into cool spaces that improve quality of life and make the city safer and more walkable.
Heat doesn't wait, and neither should we — making Detroit cooler and healthier starts here.
Brought to you by American Forests and the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation in partnership with the Detroit Future City.
Like this story? Check out how other cities are using shade data and tackling extreme heat in Austin, TX and Phoenix, AZ.
Story Credits: Article and design by Julia Twichell at American Forests. Shade modeling and data analysis by Dr. Isaac Buo. Collaboration, review, and analysis by Lana Zimmerman and Dr. V. Kelly Turner at UCLA Luskin Center. Computational support by ASU SHaDE Lab. Collaboration and review by Sarah Peterson at Detroit Future City, and Dan Rieden at City of Detroit. construction by Geri Rosenberg at American Forests. This project was made possible by funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
For more information about UCLA Luskin Center's shade data, please contact Dr. V. Kelly Turner, Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Geography, at vkturner@ucla.edu.
Photo credits (in order): wiredforlego/ Flickr; Brook Ward/ Flckr; wiredforlego/ Flickr; Sharon Mollerus/ Flickr; Joel Clark / American Forests; Joel Clark / American Forests; Google Street View of 3361 Gratiot Ave, Detroit MI (Nov 2023); Google Street View of 9157 Gratiot Ave, Detroit MI (Nov 2023); kubia/ Flickr; Bulleit Bourbon/ American Forests; Joel Clark / American Forests; Terence Faircloth/ Flickr.
1 Shindell, D., Zhang, Y., Scott, M., Ru, M., Stark, K., Ebi, K.L. (2020). The Effects of Heat Exposure on Human Mortality Throughout the United States. Geohealth, 4(4). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GH000234.

2 University of Wisconsin-Madison Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research. (Last accessed, January 27, 2025). “Great Lakes Regional Climate Change Maps” GLISA, https://glisa.umich.edu/great-lakes-regional-climate-change-maps/.

3 Stone Jr, B., Gronlund, C. J., Mallen, E., Hondula, D., O'Neill, M. S., Rajput, M., ... & Georgescu, M. (2023). How blackouts during heat waves amplify mortality and morbidity risk. Environmental Science & Technology, 57(22), 8245-8255.

4 Turner, V. K. et al. (2023). “The problem with hot schoolyards.” UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, https://innovation.luskin.ucla.edu/publication/the-problem-with-hot-schools/.

5 Lagune-Reutler, M., Guthrie, A., Fan, Y., & Levinson, D. M. (2016). Transit Riders' Perception of Waiting Time and Stops' Surrounding Environments. Transportation Research Board, retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, http://dx.doi.org/10.3141/2543-09.

6 Vibrant Cities Lab. “Trees calm traffic, reduce stress and car accidents, encourage walking and extend the life of pavement.” US Forest Service and American Forests, https://vibrantcitieslab.com/research/transportation/#:~:text=Mobility%20Impact,-Traffic%20Calming&text=Trees%20can%20calm%20traffic%20and,within%20an%208%2Dyear%20period.
Methods: One-meter resolution shade was modeled at noon (minimum shade), 3 p.m. (hottest time of day), and 6 p.m. (maximum shade) using high-resolution 2022 USGS LIDAR point cloud data and Microsoft Building Footprints on June 21, the longest day of the year.

Four surface models were created using LIDAR: (1) all features above ground (FDSM), (2) ground elevations, (3) a Building Surface Model and (4) a Canopy Model. A Building Surface Model was generated by extracting pixels in the FDSM within Microsoft Building Footprints. The Canopy Model extracted all other pixels in the FDSM, and defined trees and other non-building shade features as pixels with heights greater than 1.3 meters. All other above-ground elevations were set to 0 because they are not high enough to provide shade for the average person standing outdoors (Buo et al., 2023). The Canopy Model predominantly reflects tree shade; however, it also contains other non-building features such as shade sails that are treated like trees.

The shadowing function of the SOlar LongWave Environmental Irradiance Geometry (SOLWEIG) model proposed by Lindberg et al. (2008) simulated the shade distribution from surface models at 1-m resolution. Total shade is a function of the transmissivity of foliated vegetation for shortwave radiation and shadows from buildings and tree canopy (Lindberg & Grimmond, 2011).

Unlike shade generated from the Building Surface Model, shadows from the Canopy Model can occur underneath an elevated feature (such as under tree canopy, a bridge, or a shade sail). The result are binary rasters that indicate the presence or absence of shade, including building shade, tree and other shade and total shade rasters. These rasters can be analyzed to calculate percent shade cover for any polygon using zonal statistics.
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