Communicating with Community: Using Geographic Information Systems to Convey the Impacts of Extreme Heat in Los Angeles Environmental Justice Communities

Structured Abstract

Introduction

Extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related event in the United States, but it is not regarded with the same urgency as other natural disasters. By 2050, Los Angeles is expected to experience about three times as many extreme heat days compared to today, which will likely disproportionately affect environmental justice communities. One barrier to mitigating heat-related vulnerability in frontline communities is a lack of awareness of available resources and adaptation strategies.

Methods

The Prioritizing Local Action for Climate Equity (PLACE) study aims to bridge this knowledge gap through the usage of maps and map-based presentations in three Los Angeles environmental justice (EJ) neighborhoods: Pacoima, South Los Angeles, and Wilmington. Particularly, print-out maps were utilized during the study’s “Heat and Health” workshops as educational and discussion tools. Additionally, a collection of ArcGIS StoryMaps was created to share heat resources and information related to heat vulnerability online. These StoryMaps were developed through an iterative process that integrated feedback from community partners, ensuring that the created tools are relevant to and address the needs of residents.

Results and Discussion

The print-out maps proved to be useful discussion tools and enabled the team to gain a deeper understanding of what resources are utilized during heat events. While community partners thought that the StoryMaps were informative and can serve as an education tool about extreme heat and mitigation strategies, they identified opportunities for improvement, such as enhancing their utility in emergency situations regarding the length and display limitations of the StoryMaps on mobile phones.

Introduction

As climate change intensifies, the number of extreme heat days globally will increase. In Los Angeles County, the number of extreme heat days (maximum temperature > 95 degrees Fahrenheit) annually is expected to triple by 2050 compared to today.¹ Projected annual extreme heat days in L.A. County vary between 10 and 108 days, in part due to the sheer size of the area which includes both coastal and inland regions.² Low-income communities are expected to experience more hot days, as these populations are more likely to live in inland valley or urban areas that are hotter, have less green space and/or are more vulnerable to the urban heat island effect.³

Extreme heat is more deadly than hurricanes, flooding, and tornadoes in the United States.⁴ Furthermore, the number of heat-related deaths is likely underreported as they are often incorrectly classified as death via dehydration or kidney failure; in this way, extreme heat can be known as a “silent killer.”⁵ During heat events, existing health conditions worsen and people can experience altered sleep patterns, exhaustion, dehydration, and hypothermia.⁶ The number of emergency room visits in Los Angeles County increases by between 3.4 to 6.9% during heat events.⁷

Environmental justice (EJ), or frontline, communities are neighborhoods that are disproportionately exposed to environmental hazards and are predominantly communities of color and low-income.⁸ EJ communities experience greater environmental burdens in part due to the “systematic placement” of polluting entities such as power plants, freeways, and industrial facilities, in their neighborhoods.⁹ The negative impacts of extreme heat fall heavily on these communities; particularly, state-identified EJ areas in California have mortality rates that are 14 to 30% higher than non-EJ communities during extreme heat events.¹⁰

Significant knowledge barriers exist surrounding extreme heat adaptation strategies and other related information, data, and resources.¹¹ Furthermore, much information related to climate change and environmental hazards contains jargon, which can lead to disengagement.¹² These informational barriers are related to environmental health literacy which is the “fundamental capacity to understand…the relationship between environmental exposures and health.”¹³

This case study seeks to break down knowledge barriers related to extreme heat through effective maps and other geographic information system (GIS) visualizations that contextualize placed-based information in an understandable way. In particular, maps were used during community workshops and to disseminate information about extreme heat’s impacts and related resources in ArcGIS StoryMaps.

The PLACE Study

The Prioritizing Local Action for Climate Equity (PLACE) study is a multi-faceted research project that aims to increase climate resiliency in marginalized communities across Los Angeles through community-academic partnerships, advocacy, and other participatory research strategies. The PLACE study research team is composed of researchers from University of Southern California (USC), Occidental College, and community partners from Physicians for Social Responsibility Los Angeles (PSR-LA). The team worked closely with community-based organizations (CBOs) in the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Wilmington, Pacoima, South Los Angeles as well as Indigenous populations from L.A. County. The LEAP L.A. Coalition was also key in connecting the research team to frontline communities.

Community partners in South L.A. include: PSR-LA, Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE), and Esperanza Community Housing. In Pacoima, the team worked with Pacoima Beautiful and in Wilmington, Communities for a Better Environment (CBE). The team also engaged with Los Angeles Indigenous communities through the Sacred Place Institute for Indigenous Peoples (SPI). These community-based organizations all have long histories working in Los Angeles and tend to focus on environmental and social justice issues. Given that most of our community partners are based in Wilmington, Pacoima, and South L.A., this case study reports our work completed in these three areas (see Figure 1).

Figure 1:

Map showing the neighborhoods of interest (Pacoima, Wilmington, South L.A.) for this case study.

Theoretical Framework: GIS as a Communication Tool

Maps have increasingly become utilized as a science communication tool because they can be easy to interpret and contextualize complex phenomena well.¹⁴ In environmental justice communities, maps and spatial data can be used to track and identify community resources, assess risk, and to aid in the understanding of complex scientific information generally.¹⁵ Maps and other products created with GIS technology are further useful as they are a tangible means of advancing environmental health literacy, provided that the maps are both tailored to community members and cartographically sound.¹⁶ Maps “create space for social learning through enhanced and meaningful public engagement” and elicit deeper reflections about the data presented.¹⁷ Ideally, GIS visualizations enable community members to become more knowledgeable about a given topic and then encourage advocacy and/or participation in related community discussions.¹⁸

Despite maps’ merits as a communication tool, it is challenging to create visualizations that are suitable for all audiences as people differ greatly by characteristics such as language proficiency, education, and socioeconomic status - all of which influence people’s ability to interpret maps.¹⁹ However, working with non-GIS users and employing an iterative framework when creating maps can help remediate issues related to utility, especially in an environmental justice context.²⁰ Mapping tools can be integrated within a community-based participatory research framework to ensure that they reflect community sentiment.²¹ In fact, inclusive processes are necessary to design maps fairly and ethically.

In addition to maps alone, map-based storytelling presentations can be utilized as a science communication mechanism across a wide range of topics.²² Specifically, Esri’s ArcGIS StoryMaps are a unique tool that allow users to create web pages that combine maps, narrative, images, and short videos in an easily accessible online interface.²³ StoryMaps are multimedia “scrolly-telling” tools that allow readers to view content at their own pace.²⁴ Maps embedded in StoryMaps are typically dynamic, meaning that viewers can change the map extent and scale at will. StoryMaps are user-friendly and can be accessed via a shareable link that promotes collaboration.²⁵ StoryMaps are especially useful to present scientific research in an engaging way as the usage of dynamic maps, multimedia, and writing provides multiple avenues of understanding.²⁶

StoryMaps’ user-friendly design and interactive features make them valuable tools for community engagement. For example, Howland et al. (2020) created an ArcGIS StoryMap to make archaeological information more accessible to community members in Jordan; notably, the StoryMaps had a feedback box where people can suggest edits. In this way, the StoryMap is not an “end all be all” but rather a work in progress that integrates community sentiment and can be continuously updated.²⁷ In addition to community engagement, StoryMaps “provid[e] meaningful context to complex topics and concepts, and empowe[r] informed decision making.”²⁸ In an EJ context, StoryMaps can help amplify existing resources that may not be known to community members.²⁹ StoryMaps that incorporate community feedback can loosely be considered as part of public participatory GIS (PPGIS) efforts, however PPGIS tools tend to be those wherein community members are involved directly with map-making.³⁰

This case study sits on the intersection of participatory action research and participatory mapping. The PLACE study is an example of participatory action research given that strong community and university partnerships were the foundation to developing, implementing and disseminating the project. We utilized many participatory strategies beyond what is discussed here.³¹ Participatory mapping theory, which “rests on the assumption that not only experts but also residents of a neighborhood, city or a region could be involved in the act of its geographic representation,” is particularly important in the context of this case study as feedback from community members was elicited and then integrated throughout the creation of GIS visualizations and presentations.³²

Case Study Design

To effectively communicate the impacts of extreme heat and provide community members resources for heat prevention and mitigation, this case study took a two-pronged approach. First, maps with known cooling resources were created and printed out in a large format for usage during “Heat & Health” community workshops. The workshops were created by the PLACE team and CBOs to provide a forum for residents to express their experiences and concerns with extreme heat (see Figure 2). During these workshops, the PLACE study team led popular education curriculum around extreme heat and provided guidance as to how to deal with the heat during and prior to heat events. The contents of each workshop were tailored to residents of specific communities (i.e. Pacoima, Wilmington, South L.A., or Indigenous communities) based on the community’s demographic composition, environmental burdens, cultural background, and concerns.

Figure 2:

Picture from one of the PLACE “Heat and Health” workshops. The large print-out map to the left was created for the attendees to exchange ideas and discuss available cooling resources.

Second, the team created a collection of ArcGIS StoryMaps that focus on existing cooling resources and identify distributions of vulnerable populations in each neighborhood. We created a main StoryMap that serves as a general introduction to extreme heat and the PLACE study, and three community-specific StoryMaps that examine extreme heat in detail in Pacoima, Wilmington, or South L.A. Following the completion of an initial draft, the StoryMaps were reviewed by leads at each CBO and their feedback was integrated into the StoryMaps. We held one final discussion session with CBO leads based on the structure proposed in Quist et al. (2024) and gathered additional feedback through this iterative process.³³ The collection of the StoryMaps were translated into Spanish following the integration of all feedback. The StoryMaps are now available for viewing via community partner websites, social media channels, or a direct link.³⁴

Source Data and Preparation

The static maps and StoryMaps utilized spatial and non-spatial data from a number of sources including the U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Geological Survey, Los Angeles County, City of Los Angeles, and Loyola Marymount University (see Table 1). The datasets were chosen based on a literature review which identified variables that are related to extreme heat vulnerability as well as feedback from CBO leads. For example, we obtained a tree canopy dataset from Loyola Marymount University following comments from CBOs about including the relationship between the built environment and heat exposure for public transit dependent populations in the StoryMaps.

Table 1:

Summary of the datasets utilized to create GIS visualizations for the PLACE Study.

Dataset Name	Source	Notes
Land Cover Census Tract_WFL1	Center for Urban Resilience at Loyola Marymount University	Land cover and tree canopy data for Los Angeles County at the Census tract level
2021 American Community Survey 5-year estimates	United States Census Bureau	Demographic information for Los Angeles County at the Census tract level (age, income, public transit dependency)
Cooling Centers - Los Angeles County Regional	County of Los Angeles	Locations of cooling centers throughout L.A. County
Hydration Stations	Los Angeles GeoHub	Location of water fountains throughout L.A. County
Recreation and Parks Facilities	Los Angeles GeoHub	Parks and recreation facilities in Los Angeles
City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Boundaries	Los Angeles GeoHub	Parks and recreation area boundaries in Los Angeles
Public Library Facilities	County of Los Angeles	Location of public libraries in Los Angeles
Land Surface Temperature	United States Geological Survey	Temperature data for Los Angeles County

We completed all necessary data preparation in ArcGIS Pro or ArcGIS Online. To ensure consistency across our mapping materials we began by projecting each dataset in the appropriate coordinate system (NAD 1983 StatePlane California V FIPS 0405 (US Feet)). We then clipped each dataset to the boundaries of the communities of interest (Wilmington, South Los Angeles, or Pacoima). The information we wanted to display was mostly contained in the attribute table, with the exception of demographic variables from the 2021 American Community Survey (ACS). For the ACS data, we calculated the percentage of vulnerable populations in each census tract, particularly the percentages of those who are dependent on public transportation for commuting, older adults (older than 65), and children (under 5 years old) in ArcGIS Pro.

Visualizations

All static maps were created using ArcGIS Pro. Large print-out maps were created for the community workshops based on the workshop activities planned by the PLACE study team. In particular, maps showing available cooling resources including public libraries, parks, and water fountains, as well as spatial distributions of land surface temperature were created. We also added other points of interest, such as the locations of oil and gas wells, based on CBO lead requests. For dynamic maps included in the StoryMaps, visualizations of spatial distributions of vulnerable populations including older adults, children, and people who use public transit for commuting were created in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS Online.

Developing StoryMaps

The entire set of StoryMaps was developed using Esri’s online interface. Prior to the creation of the StoryMaps, we researched best science communication practices to maximize readability for a public audience. Particularly, we paid close attention to word choice, sentence length, and minimized the usage of jargon.³⁵ For data visualizations (maps and graphs), we aimed to make these as intuitive as possible and provided short descriptions to further facilitate understanding.

The StoryMap collection contains one main StoryMap and three individual StoryMaps that each focus on a specific neighborhood (Pacoima, Wilmington, or South Los Angeles). The main StoryMap contains an introduction to extreme heat and a description of the PLACE study, the neighborhoods of interest, and our community partners. It also discusses socioeconomic characteristics (age, public transit dependency, and income) that make community members more vulnerable to extreme heat, and provides general heat resources and sources. Ideally, viewers would start with the main presentation and then navigate to their community of interest in either English or Spanish.

For neighborhood StoryMaps there are six sections: a community profile, a description of how extreme heat will impact that neighborhood specifically, and sections that show community characteristics (maps), resources, an update due to the recent Los Angeles wildfires, and sources. The individual StoryMaps also include swipe maps related to age and public transportation dependency as well as a dynamic map showcasing income levels.

While each neighborhood StoryMap contains similar information, each has been tailored to a specific community. To contextualize the StoryMaps, the team researched and identified important issues to community members using academic sources, newspaper articles, and CBO lead comments.³⁶ For example, the negative health impacts of industrial air pollution due to the Los Angeles port and other sites in Wilmington were a major concern identified by our team, and then re-affirmed by community partners. Air quality was an important issue in all three neighborhoods as each has many polluting entities within them, and/or are located near freeways. Furthermore, in the wake of the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires, air quality surged as a major concern for residents. Specific neighborhood resources (i.e. links to prominent EJ organizations and local neighborhood councils) are also provided in each StoryMap.

Community Partner Feedback and Translation

Following the completion of a first draft, we sent the StoryMaps to community partners for feedback and updated them as needed prior to releasing them to the public. While we took a different approach to eliciting feedback than Howland et al. (2020), this rapport with community partners helped make the StoryMaps a tool that “communities can engage with, edit, and use as a platform to tell their own stories.” The involvement of community organizations helped the team write tactful data interpretations and include relevant information.³⁷ Some key pieces of feedback included: emphasizing how specific polluting entities impact public health, explaining the urban heat island effect, and creating swipe maps that compare public transit dependency with tree canopy coverage. To address other concerns, we went line-by-line through each StoryMap to make language adjustments and added text and maps as needed. For example, one CBO lead noted that instead of using “low income minority” to reference “communities of color” the preferred term is “fenceline and/or frontline communities.” Based on this feedback, we changed all references to the communities of interest to the preferred term.

After updating the StoryMaps, members of the research team translated them into Spanish. In Los Angeles County, nearly 37.7% of residents, or about 3.5 million people, speak Spanish at home.³⁸ Among these households, 69.8% speak English less than “very well.”³⁹ By making the StoryMaps available in Spanish, we increased accessibility and helped advance language justice, which promotes the dissemination of materials in languages other than English to enable people to be “empowered to navigate spaces in their preferred language,” and is a part of the study’s research goals.⁴⁰

We concluded this portion of the PLACE study with a final group discussion with CBO leads where we gathered additional feedback about the StoryMaps. Some major requests we received involved adding a discussion about the Los Angeles wildfires, a land acknowledgement, and better amplifying heat-related resources. CBO leads also requested that we add in quotes from community members to contextualize the data provided. We also made minor changes such as updating certain organization’s descriptions. Following the implementation of this feedback, the StoryMaps were updated accordingly in Spanish.

Sacred Places Institute for Indigenous Peoples requested a separate StoryMap that amplifies Indigenous Peoples’ experiences with extreme heat in Los Angeles. This StoryMap was completed in March 2025 and can be accessed via the main StoryMap.

Lessons Learned

Workshop Maps

The maps created for PLACE Study workshops were especially useful for members of the team to emphasize negative health impacts related to extreme heat and to learn about where people go during heat events. In particular, the land surface temperature map helped underscore the relationship between an increased number of emergency room visits and extreme heat, as well as to examine the urban heat island effect and its effects on communities. This map was quite easy to use during the workshops, as its bright color gradient could be seen and interpreted from anywhere in the room.

Unfortunately, the team was not always able to use the cooling resources map as planned during the workshops due to time constraints. However, during one workshop, we were able to utilize a cooling resources map that included labels of specific places in the community. The team asked residents which resources they were familiar with, whether they utilized certain resources, and why they liked going there. This sparked an open discussion and according to one team member, we were able to “identify features and services that are critical in making public spaces truly accessible and attractive to families, people with children, and the elderly.” The maps also facilitated deeper discussion where residents shared “insider tips” about local cooling resources. For instance, a workshop facilitator noted that “someone shared that they liked going to the Harbor Park Pool but did not go often because it got crowded quickly. They said if they did not get there right when the pool opened, they would not be able to find chairs with an umbrella to comfortably set up their belongings.” In response, another participant “shared that they go to a nearby YMCA to use the pool and that they even offered free swimming lessons to young children.” Discussions like this helped us determine important resources in the community, potential barriers to access, and even alternative places to go during heat events.

Static maps were also utilized within some of the StoryMaps. These maps provided additional context for certain phenomena; for example, we had a static map that depicted the location of oil and gas wells in Wilmington which helped emphasize the presence of many polluting entities near residential areas and drivers of climate change.

StoryMaps

The StoryMaps’ interface, which allowed for easy duplication and the integration of maps, photos, and text, was crucial in facilitating community engagement. The StoryMaps are accessible via shareable links, which made it easy for us to distribute new iterations to all CBO partners. Duplication of the StoryMaps was also seamless and thus allowed us to translate the StoryMaps into Spanish in a timely manner. Making the StoryMaps available in Spanish helped expand the StoryMaps’ audience from just English speakers to Spanish speakers as well, which is especially important in Los Angeles. It is also quite easy to toggle between the English and Spanish version of each presentation via a button at the top of each StoryMap.

The integration of community partners’ feedback helped the team tailor our end products such that they were helpful and relevant to residents’ experiences; had we not integrated community feedback, we may have made tools that were not as impactful or did not reflect community sentiment.⁴¹ CBO leads brought “local expertise” which helped us communicate more effectively to their community.⁴² For example, one major piece of feedback we received surrounded the integration of a tree canopy map into the individual StoryMaps. A CBO lead in Pacoima explicitly noted that this map would help “show how the built environment exacerbates extreme heat conditions.” As a result of this feedback, we included a swipe map contrasting tree canopy coverage and public transit dependency (Figure 3). While this was identified as important by community members, it was not included in the StoryMaps initially. By taking an iterative approach to creating these materials, we advanced the community-academic partnership by building a rapport and eliciting trust from community partners through careful listening and feedback integration.

Figure 3:

Swipe map showing public transit dependency and tree canopy coverage (by census tract) in Wilmington that was created following comments from CBO leads. A similar map was added to the South L.A. and Pacoima StoryMaps.

While the StoryMaps are helpful resources, there are potential barriers surrounding accessibility. Particularly, while the StoryMaps are available for viewing via a smartphone, they are not nearly as compelling as when viewed on a larger screen nor are they accessible for those who lack internet access.⁴³ One CBO lead noted that in an emergency situation the StoryMaps would be too time-consuming to scroll through. Instead, they would be more likely to give residents a flyer that contained information about what to do during a heat event or that linked to specific resources directly. However, if there was more time, the lead noted that they would want to sit down with community members and point out important pieces of information within the StoryMaps. This sentiment was reaffirmed by another lead who thought that the StoryMaps were generally educational, but too time consuming during an emergency. In response to this, to amplify existing heat resources, we direct users at the beginning of each StoryMap to click the “resources” tab to access resources immediately.⁴⁴

Conclusion

The PLACE study demonstrates how GIS visualizations and presentations can be utilized in an environmental justice setting to effectively communicate the impacts of extreme heat in a clear manner. The printed maps utilized during workshops facilitated discussion and deepened the team’s understanding of where community members go during heat events along with their concerns of where resources might be lacking. Future research that seeks to use static maps should note that while print out maps can be effective communication tools, they must be supplanted by discussion and contextualization as these maps lack interactivity. For example, participants cannot zoom in and out or experiment with different layers on static maps which can limit understanding and engagement with the data.

The StoryMaps enabled the research team to easily share background information and available resources related to extreme heat in Los Angeles. Although they may not be ideal in emergency circumstances when residents need information immediately, the tool is valuable for educational purposes and day-to-day planning for CBO leads and community members generally. We found the Esri StoryMaps’ interface to be helpful in facilitating collaboration as we could easily share links with CBO leads and update the StoryMaps in a timely manner. However, there is concern surrounding the long-term management of StoryMaps, especially when considering updates to the platform and the departure of StoryMap authors from their roles.⁴⁵

The techniques outlined in this case study provide a framework which other institutions that seek to engage meaningfully with community members can utilize. As mapping has been shown to be an effective engagement tool in several contexts, these techniques can be used beyond Southern California for extreme heat and other natural disasters.⁴⁶ However, it is important to note that the work done here was strengthened immensely by existing partnerships between the research team and frontline communities.⁴⁷ For institutions that do not have strong relationships with CBOs, there may be issues related to communication, coordination, and collaboration which can hinder the development of effective educational tools. Despite potential obstacles, we encourage researchers to build meaningful relationships and be willing to learn from community members as this case study demonstrates the value of creating visualizations in collaboration with the community. This work ultimately advances environmental health literacy in local communities and serves as an example of a fruitful community-academic partnership.