The Washington Post Built a Fake City to Demonstrate Extreme Heat: CAPLA’s Ladd Keith Provides Expert Analysis

Aug. 12, 2022
Who
Ladd Keith, Assistant Professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments
What
Expert Analysis for The Washington Posts's "Meltsville"
When
August 11, 2022
Image
Welcome to Meltsville sign

Image courtesy The Washington Post.

“Welcome to Meltsville,” reads the new sign for a fake metropolis featured this week in The Washington Post. The interactive article relies on the expert analysis of Ladd Keith, assistant professor of planning and sustainable built environments in the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Arizona.

“Extreme heat is deadly for humans and not great for infrastructure, either,” begins the feature. Through a series of changing narratives and images, the article then addresses extreme heat’s impact on infrastructure for transportation (airports, roads, bridges and railways), the power grid, buildings and parks.

Image
Ladd Keith

Ladd Keith, Assistant Professor of Planning and Sustainable Built Environments

Keith provides expert analysis on extreme heat’s impact on infrastructure, beginning with airports: “The challenge with plane takeoffs during heat waves is not due to airport construction, it’s due to physics,” he notes. Keith also mentions “sunscreen for roads,” such as Tucson’s Cool Pavement project.

“As you have a heat wave occurring, it will expand the asphalt, it will expand the steel,” says Keith. “If you already have a poorly rated bridge that needs to be replaced, all of those additional stresses are, quite frankly, a little bit terrifying to think of.”

View the full feature in The Washington Post: “We built a fake metropolis to show how extreme heat could wreck cities.”

Keith, who joined CAPLA in 2009, is an interdisciplinary researcher with over a decade of experience planning for climate change with diverse stakeholders in cities across the U.S. His current research explores heat planning and governance with funding from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Transportation. In addition to founding and leading CAPLA’s Bachelor of Science in Sustainable Built Environments, Keith teaches public participation and dispute resolution as well as climate action planning.

  

Subscribe to The Studio

Sign up for CAPLA's monthly e-newsletter to get the latest news and events, insights from faculty and leadership, profiles of students and alumni and more.

Subscribe Now

Latest CAPLA News, Projects and Profiles

Image
Sun Link Train

CAPLA Professor’s SunLink Research to be Published in Harvard Law & Policy Review

A new study co-led by CAPLA’s Arthur C. Nelson and the City of Tucson’s Daniel Lawlor finds that the Sun Link streetcar has reshaped Tucson’s growth, economy, and equity since its 2014 launch, driving major real estate investment, population growth, and city revenue gains. The research, to be published in the Harvard Law & Policy Review, highlights the streetcar as a national model for successful urban transit planning.

Image
Mind Building of the new Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine

Behind the Design: Andrew Weil Center recognized for outstanding architecture

The University of Arizona’s Andrew Weil Center for Integrative Medicine has been recognized internationally for its innovative design, earning an honorable mention in the 2025 International Architecture Awards. The distinction highlights the university’s commitment to creating spaces that advance health, wellness, and architectural excellence.