Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Helps Develop New Smart Surfaces Tools for Cities
New Analysis Finds Smart Surfaces Could Deliver $20B+ in Benefits Across 10 US Cities
Today, Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law announces its partnership with Smart Surfaces Coalition in developing three new tools to support climate-smart, cool, resilient cities as part of the Cities for Smart Surfaces program.
Across 10 major U.S. cities - home to 8 million people - citywide adoption of Smart Surfaces could deliver $7.6 billion in public health benefits, $3.3 billion in electricity bill reductions, and $9.9 billion in infrastructure savings, while also reducing or offsetting 79 million metric tons of CO₂e and managing 275 billion gallons of stormwater. Expanding Smart Surfaces to the surrounding metropolitan areas (impacting 34 million Americans) could deliver a total of $26.6 billion in public health benefits, $10 billion in electricity bill reductions, and $34.8 billion in infrastructure savings, while also reducing or offsetting 246 million metric tons of CO₂e and managing 969 billion gallons of stormwater.
These findings come from new analysis by the Smart Surfaces Coalition, powered by high resolution micrometeorological modeling and a suite of web tools launched this summer as part of the Cities for Smart Surfaces Program. The data reveals the transformative potential of Smart Surface interventions—including trees, green stormwater infrastructure, porous and permeable pavements, and reflective roofs and roads—to reduce peak summer temperatures by 5°F or more, lower flood risk, mitigate climate change, increase resilience, and improve public health, especially in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.
To help cities act on this potential and accelerate transformation, the Smart Surfaces Coalition and partners developed a suite of tools enabling cities to more easily conduct benefit-cost analysis, geospatial analysis, and data-driven policy implementation. Together, these tools enable users to assess local surface infrastructure, model the quantified benefits of Smart Surface solutions, and craft strong legislation backed by clear financial, health, and climate impact data.
- The Benefit-Cost Analysis Tool enables users to explore the financial, temperature, stormwater, and CO2e impacts associated with Smart Surfaces adoption. Users are able to model the transformation of a census tract, council district, city, or entire metropolitan area to understand the potential benefits of interventions such as cool roofs, reflective pavement, permeable surfaces, and expanded tree canopy.
- The Decision Support Tool (DST) empowers users to understand how surfaces, heat, and hazard vulnerability are distributed across 10 metropolitan areas. The DST contains several brand new datasets from the Cities for Smart Surfaces Program, including micrometeorological modeling of Smart Surface impacts and comprehensive high-resolution analysis of land use and land cover in the metropolitan areas. City staff across the country are already using this tool to help guide their policies, projects, and programs.
- The Smart Surfaces Policy Tracker is a new resource that makes adopting Smart Surface policies easy and intuitive. The website features a robust, searchable database of nearly 2,000 Smart Surface policies from all 50 US states. The site also hosts a number of policy guides, developed by Coalition partners, to improve existing policy or design new policies from the ground up.
"The Smart Surfaces Policy Tracker is an incredibly powerful resource for understanding ways to incorporate Smart Surfaces into local law and policy,” Daniel J. Metzger, Senior Fellow, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law. “The site empowers city policymakers, academic researchers, community groups, advocates, and anyone else with an interest in local climate adaptation to draw on examples from other cities around the country and to craft effective ways to make their own cities more resilient and livable."
Using these three tools, SSC has analyzed surface conditions across each participating city—identifying the share of heat-absorbing dark and impervious surfaces, estimating stormwater runoff, and modeling the benefits of citywide Smart Surfaces, including cooler temperatures, reduced flooding, improved health, and billions in net financial savings. Cities have never before had such a comprehensive, data-rich view of their surface infrastructure. Already, this data-driven approach is helping city leaders accelerate climate-resilient surface transformation through city plans, policies, and capital investments.
In the case of Atlanta’s recent Cool Roof Ordinance, city leaders used model ordinance language from the Smart Surfaces Policy Tracker to help draft one of the country’s strongest reflectivity requirements for low- and steep-slope roofs. Impact data from the Benefit-Cost Analysis and Decision Support Tools played a crucial role in securing unanimous adoption. The policy is projected to cool the city by up to 6.3°F in the hottest neighborhoods, reduce over 1,000 metric tons of air pollution and 3.65 megatons of CO2e, deliver $310 million in reduced energy bills, and generate $760 million in net financial benefits.
“We are proud to collaborate with our partner organizations and cities to create solutions that make urban areas cooler, healthier, and safer for all residents, especially for outdoor workers, seniors, athletes, and unhoused people,” Greg Kats, CEO & Founder of Smart Surfaces Coalition. “Each of these three tools represents a major step forward in informing and strengthening city decision-making. Together, they give cities an unprecedented ability to visualize and reshape their urban fabric to enhance resilience, cut energy and health costs, and create more vibrant, livable communities.”
The full set of findings, including aggregate city and metropolitan area data on cooling, cost savings, flood mitigation, air quality, and public health outcomes, are available for download here.
To schedule a demonstration of the web tools, please visit SSC Web Tool Access & Inquiries.