Heat waves are one of the deadliest climate hazards facing Toronto, and their impacts fall hardest on people who are older, chronically ill, socially isolated, newly arrived, or living with housing insecurity. Too often, the maps, alerts, and dashboards meant to keep people safe are built by institutions, for institutions, leaving out the local knowledge, everyday realities, and community care networks that actually help people get through extreme heat.
This two-year research project, a partnership between Sprout (formerly Climate Resilient Communities), The 519, and the University of Toronto's Toronto Climate Observatory, is working to change that.
What We're Doing
Working alongside residents and frontline workers in heat-vulnerable neighbourhoods across the GTA , we're using critical design methods to:
- Listen first: Through group sharing sessions with community members, we're learning how people are made vulnerable to heat, what mutual aid and informal support already exists in their neighbourhoods, and how information really flows day to day.
- Critically examine existing tools: In hands-on workshops, community members and frontline workers evaluate the heat maps, alert systems, and dashboards currently in use — asking whose knowledge these tools recognize, whose they miss, and what's missing entirely.
- Co-design something better. Using what we learn, participants create their own version of the heat vulnerability and asset maps and prototype new resources (e.g., neighbourhood heat guides, community alert templates, mutual check-in protocols, and more accessible formats) built around a simple question: What if heat information didn't just warn people, but helped them take action to keep themselves and their neighbours safe?
Why It Matters
Communities facing extreme heat are already practicing collective care (i.e., checking in on neighbours, sharing information informally, mobilizing local resources). This project starts from the belief that heat information systems should strengthen these existing networks, not sideline them. By positioning residents and frontline workers as expert evaluators and co-designers, we aim to build tools and relationships that support real community resilience, not just compliance with a warning.
Get Involved
This project runs through community workshops, interviews, and design sessions across Toronto. If you work with a heat-vulnerable community, or want to learn more about participating, we'd love to hear from you.
📧 partnership@sprout-climate.org