SAT-C09: Shading In: Research, Engagement, and Design to Add Shade in Under-Resourced Communities

Saturday, October 11, 2025

3:45 PM – 5:00 PM CT

1.25 PDH, LA CES/HSW

Speaker(s)

Jerome Chou, ASLA (he/him/his)

Senior Planning Principal
Kounkuey Design Initiative
Los Angeles, California
Christian A. Rodriguez Ceja

Community Principal
Kounkuey Design Initative
Indio, California
Esther M. Margulies, ASLA

Professor of Practice, PLA
USC School of Architecture
Venice, California

The session will share a range of research, engagement, and design strategies to create more shade and combat extreme heat at different scales, from single sites to neighborhood and large area plans, across both dense urban neighborhoods and low-density, rural communities.

Learning Outcomes:

Learn from projects that mitigate extreme heat and shade at site, neighborhood, and regional scales across different contexts, from dense urban neighborhoods to rural, unincorporated communities.
Learn about innovative community-university partnerships and engagement approaches/activities that share resources and power with low-income communities of color, and build their capacity to become shade advocates.
Discover collaborative spatial science tools that help academic researchers assess vulnerabilities and identify areas that will benefit most from extreme heat mitigation.
Learn about strategies for designing with shade, including public realm studies revealing shade inequities, strategies to increase urban forest canopy at specific sites, and designing iconic, multifunctional shade.