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Shadows of Progress

Crusade afoot to create shade for the Valley
By Angela Cara Pancrazio - The Arizona Republic

London has Big Ben. Paris has the Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower.
What does Phoenix have?
"It's a big issue I had in my craw," architect Jack DeBartolo II said. "Do we have a monumental icon?"
DeBartolo asked himself this as he embarked on an architectural design concept for Arizona State University's downtown campus.
"What's the biggest thing we have here? We have a lot of sun."
And not enough shade.

Today, summer officially gives way to autumn. Elsewhere, this might mean something. But in Arizona, where we average nearly 300 days of sunshine and weather wonks documented triple-digit heat as late as Oct. 23 last year, the seasonal switch is just another day on the calendar.
That's one reason it's all about shade. From local architects to artists, from outdoor workers to bus riders and skin-cancer researchers, there is a growing movement for shade.

De Bartolo's group came up with a "responsible" shade structure in their concept for downtown ASU's proposed campus. It would provide 15 acres of shade, while using solar panels to harness energy.

On a much smaller scale, a suction cup rigged to an umbrella is the answer for 22-year-old Arizona native Jason Foster as he fixes car dents for his Scottsdale employer.

Valley Metro spokeswoman Marie Chapple Camacho has come up with a name for the shadows cast by poles that she hunkers beneath while waiting to cross downtown Phoenix streets: "linear shade."
"Everyone wants to stand in the line of shade," she saiid.

Tempe resident Tom Oteri is helping to rewrite city zoning codes that will encourage designers and developers to create more shade.

The big question is, why hasn't this already been considered? Why don't we have more shade?

After all, the population has been booming here for more than a half-century -- ever since the technology of air-conditioning.
Once we started down that road, we eliminated shade, said Harvey Bryan, an architecture professor at Arizona State University who specializes in climate strategies.

"Look at a 1910 picture of downtown Phoenix at Adams and Central," Bryan said. "The walkways were shaded, the buildings cantilevered over the walkways, zoning allowed or there was a protocol to provide shade.
"We eliminated that: we knocked down all those buildings, built new buildings with integrated parking, where you could walk from your car to the office."

In doing so, the glass, concrete and asphalt have created the large-scale environmental problem of the year-round urban heat island.

"We're getting warmer...On average, we're seeing a 10-degree increase in the nighttime urban temperature," Bryan said.
"We need to shade some of these surfaces so they don't heat up; keep them cooler during the day so there's less radiant heat into the nighttime."

The demand for shade also isn't just about comfort.
The skin-cancer rate in Arizona is so high that virtually every White person who has lived in Arizona for 25 or more years will develop a skin cancer of some type, said Dr. David Alberts, director of cancer prevention and control at the Arizona Cancer Center.
Alberts said the rush should be to prevent rather than treat skin cancer, and part of that answer is shade.

It is no wonder, then, that shading and cooling is the No. 1 priority for the Valley's light-rail citizens task force from Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa.
"Shade...it's what everybody's looking for...If they're not, they will be soon," said magazine publisher Wayne Rainey, who said he dubbed his local arts magazine shade because the word denotes a place of comfort and refuge.