Shade: The Promise of a Forgotten Natural Resource

The University of Oregon's Portland Architecture Program and Design Portland present author Sam Bloch, on "Shade: the Promise of a Forgotten Resource. Thank you to SOJ for its support of this talk.

Shade was once a staple of human civilization. In Mesopotamia and Northern Africa, cities were built densely so that courtyards and public passageways were in shadow in the heat of the day, with cool breezes flowing freely. The Greeks famously philosophized in shady agoras. In Spain’s sunny Seville, political careers are are still imperiled when leaders fail to put out the public shades that hang above sidewalks in time for summer heat.

In the U.S., however, the arrival of air conditioning and the dominance of cars took away the impetus to enshrine shade into our rapidly growing cities. Though a few heroic planners, engineers, and architects developed shady designs for efficiency and comfort, the removal of shade trees in favor of wider roads and underinvestment in public spaces created a society where citizens retreat to their own cooled spaces, if they can—increasingly taxing the energy grid—or face dangerous heat outdoors.

In Shade, a New Yorker "Best Book of the Year," author Sam Bloch examines the key role that shade plays not only in protecting human health and enhancing urban life, but also looks toward the ways that innovative architects, city leaders, and climate entrepreneurs are looking to revive it to protect vulnerable people—and maybe even save the planet. Ambitious and far-reaching, Shade helps us see a crucially important subject in a new light.

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