UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies

In recent years, the City of Los Angeles has been leading the efforts to combat Urban Heat. In particular, the City outlined a goal of reducing the urban-rural temperature differential by 3°F by 2035 (Sustainable City pLAn, 2015). To achieve this goal, the Bureau of Street Services (StreetsLA), initiated the installation of solar reflective 'Cool Pavements' across fifteen City Council Districts. The report draws upon three empirical research methods to examine the thermal comfort of the novel Cool Pavements Project in the Sun Valley neighborhood in Los Angeles. For this study, Sun Valley site was selected because the area received three different treatments of the Cool Pavements, and has a patch of regular asphalt pavement within the same neighborhood block.