Throwing Shade on Extreme Heat: Designing Shade Structures for Yonkers

Extreme heat is responsible for more fatalities in the United States annually than any other weather-related event, including floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes combined—and it’s only getting hotter. 2024 was the hottest year in recorded history, and 2025 is projected to be even warmer. While extreme heat is an issue across the country, it is felt most acutely in dense urban environments, like areas of Yonkers where buildings, paved roads, and parking lots absorb and retain heat. As cities adapt to warmer weather, city managers, urban planners, and scientists are finding that shade is one of the most effective ways to keep people cool when they are outside.

The Hudson River Museum is partnering with Groundwork Hudson Valley, a Yonkers-based environmental nonprofit, on a collaborative three-year initiative supported by Con Edison that addresses extreme heat challenges in Southwest Yonkers through community-driven solutions and innovative environmental strategies. In 2025, the organizations worked with local community members, representatives from the City of Yonkers, and landscape architecture firm Starr Whitehouse to identify locations and develop designs for shade structures in the city’s—literally—hottest neighborhoods.

This timely interactive exhibition will highlight the initial phase of this project with background information and proposed designs for shade structures in areas where planting trees is not an option. It will feature sections on extreme heat, Groundwork Hudson Valley’s approach to community engagement, and renderings and a model of shade structures designed specifically for Yonkers. The innovative designs proposed are a result of community members’ input on both locations and forms. Visitors will also have the opportunity to leave their mark by adding comments about their lived experiences with extreme heat and drawing shade structures of their own through a collaborative activity. Throwing Shade on Extreme Heat demonstrates how strong community partnerships can result in climate-resilient infrastructures that are both effective and elegant.

This project is made possible with funding from Con Edison’s Climate Justice Resiliency Program which supports organizations advancing initiatives to mitigate extreme heat, and other climate-related weather events in disadvantaged and marginalized communities in New York City and Westchester County.

Digital renderings, maps, and graphics were developed by Starr Whitehouse, a landscape architecture, planning, and urban design practice whose mission is to shape beautiful and resilient civic spaces that connect people to nature and each other.

Exhibitions are made possible by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.