The project started in the early phases of the pandemic when places like cooling centers, recreational centers, libraries, and senior centers where people went for relief from high temperatures were closed; Montalto and his Drexel University team came up with a strategy that allowed people to cool in place by developing shade structures with an umbrella that could be deployed in front of peoples’ city homes. With community input, the structures evolved into a bench with a planter so that even high winds wouldn’t dislodge the umbrellas. The shade stations not only provide relief from the heat, but they also serve as a community amenity: they’re aesthetically pleasing, provide opportunities for social engagement, and have created jobs as the project has expanded into five different neighborhoods!
