DENVER — With triple-digit heat on the way, some Denver metro area neighborhoods are facing a big problem: a lack of shade.
A park in the Westwood neighborhood offers a clear example — open space to read a book, play a game, bring kids and connect with the community, but no trees or shade structures overhead.
- Denver7's Allie Jennerjahn shows you the park live, in the video player below.
For homes in areas without adequate shade, temperatures can run 10 to 20 degrees hotter than in other neighborhoods, according to CU Boulder associate teaching professor in environmental design Sara Tabatabaie.
A study by Tabatabaie is examining why some neighborhoods have less shade than others. She frames shade as infrastructure — not an amenity — and said that distinction matters when it comes to investment.
"So usually the neighborhoods, more established neighborhoods in the downtown area and inside I-25 corridor, they have higher level of shade, while the neighborhoods outside the I-25 corridor and also the neighborhoods that have been transitioning from industrial to residential have very low percentage of shade, and those are the neighborhoods that usually experience history of redlining and disinvestment over time," Tabatabaie said.
She also said areas like that are often lower-income areas or communities with more families with children — even though children are among the most vulnerable when it comes to sun safety.
"The health benefits and the climate resiliency benefit, if we can monetize those and show how basically kind of like compare this cost and benefit, it would be easier for policy makers and for developers to implement shade," Tabatabaie said.
Tabatabaie and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), which co-funded the study, are currently working on shade guidelines for spaces like playgrounds, trails and schoolyards, with the goal of getting policymakers to implement them.
A spokesperson for CDPHE said the Department of Local Affairs recently awarded a grant to transform school grounds with shade features. The City of Denver is also launching an equitable community tree planting initiative.
Tabatabaie encourages residents to get involved in the conversation by attending city council meetings.
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