Public art is providing relief from the heat in Cambridge, Massachusetts » Yale Climate Connections

Transcript:

On a hot afternoon in Russell Field, a park in Cambridge, Massachusetts, families often eat around a long picnic table under a canopy of mesh fabric that billows in the wind.

It’s an art installation and gathering space designed for the Shade is Social Justice project.

Zarazua: “We were looking at the ways we could bring temporary shade during the summer … and also bring in imagination and creativity to spark interest.”

Claudia Zarazua runs the city-led program.

As the climate warms, heat waves are growing more intense. And it can be hard to find places to cool off, especially in areas with few shade trees.

So this initiative provided funding for artists and designers to create shade structures at five locations.

Architect Alejandro Saldarriaga Rubio helped design the installation at Russell Field, which does more than provide temporary shade.

The wooden poles holding up the mesh fabric double as tree stakes, supporting young saplings that were planted last year.

So for now, the mesh fabric provides shade.

Saldarriaga Rubio: “Until the trees are fully grown, and those specific trees will be the ones to provide the shade.”

So over time, the installation will become a permanent shaded space where the community can keep cool as the climate warms.

Reporting credit: Sarah Kennedy / ChavoBart Digital Media