Individually experienced temperatures: a heat exposure study in five greater Phoenix, AZ area neighborhoods (2014)

Urban environmental health hazards, including exposure to extreme heat, have become increasingly important to understand in light of ongoing climate change and urbanization. Most current knowledge about heat-health risks is based on measurements of outdoor air temperatures. Further, neighborhoods are often considered a homogenous and appropriate unit with which to assess risk and implement intervention strategies. Little is known about temperatures individuals actually experience within neighborhoods and cities, given differential access to cooling resources, complex activity patterns, and heterogeneous thermal and social environments. This dataset contains information collected during a study about individually experienced temperatures (IETs) within and between neighborhoods in Phoenix, Arizona. In September 2014, 80 research participants were recruited from 5 Phoenix-area neighborhoods and equipped with air temperature sensors that recorded IETs as they went about their daily lives. Surveys, activity log phone calls, and exit interviews were used to collect additional information from participants about demographics (age, race, gender), housing status, activities during the week, lifestyle, occupation, orientation toward the neighborhood, uses of indoor and outdoor spaces as well as public and private cooling resources. 86% of participants (69 out of 80) filled out background surveys, 89% of participants (71 out of 80) filled out daily surveys, 31% of participants (25 out of 80) engaged in activity log calls, and 48% of participants (39 out of 80) participated in exit interviews. The research team found that 1) variance in mean IET was relatively equal within each neighborhood and 2) significant differences existed in average mean IETs between neighborhoods. Data collected in this study help explain how intra-city differences in outdoor temperatures manifest themselves into IETs of urban residents. Individual differences are an overlooked determinant of heat exposure and should be better integrated into heat-health research and intervention strategies.