You may be thinking we've lost our minds talking about extreme heat now that some parts of the Northern Hemisphere are headed into wintery weather. But when the heat becomes oppressive, it will be too late to plan how to deal with it.

[If you don't do anything till the last minute, you could invert these first three ideas to help address the issues that accompany extreme cold.}

Here are three community-level steps to take now that can bear fruit next summer:

1. Develop stronger ties with meteorologists and the government agencies supplying basic data, so that elected officials and city staff members have an early warning of extreme heat spells.

2. Mount a robust campaign of identifying and equipping buildings that can serve as cooling centers when there are heat emergencies. Schools, gymnasiums, nonprofit organizations, congregations, libraries, and community centers all could play a part in keeping people cool. Line up enough locations that when one is unavailable because of special events or other problems in the building, another can take its place. Develop at least some cooling centers that can accommodate people overnight. Help the identified locations figure out what staffing, supervision, supplies, and altered procedures will be needed. Work out any limits on who can occupy each cooling center.

3. Start conversations about shifting some activities, such as festivals and outdoor sporting events, to cooler times of the day.

You also need to debate and decide on strategies that will make a difference in the long run. Here are nine potential policies and actions:

1. Develop programs that will help more people to install air conditioning in their homes, or pay for running the air conditioning. The state government could be a good partner for these initiatives, and you can help form a private organization that partners with your utilities to help out.

2. Relax requirements for paved off-street parking spaces, minimum widths of paved streets, and paving the full width of driveways. Provide incentives for the use of permeable pavers, which provide stormwater benefits but also reduce trapped heat.

3. Develop information and incentives that can be used to promote or even require the installation of green roofs or light-colored roofs.

4. Take the opportunity to remove paving on public property and convert it to green space, and develop incentives for private property owners to do the same.

5. Plant trees and install fabric or other shade structures to lower the ambient temperature, especially near large buildings and pavement that retain lots of heat. Require replacement of trees that are cut down or destroyed.

6. In larger cities, investigate how to require or provide rewards for preserving ventilation corridors between buildings. Add site orientation criteria to site plan approval standards, such as encouraging smaller windows on the elevation facing afternoon sun.

7. Take all measures to reduce driving that are politically feasible in your location.

8. Reduce or eliminate minimum turf requirements. Discourage gasoline-powered lawn mowers.

9. Solar arrays above parking lots will both assist the electrical grid and provide a bit of shade over a paved surface.

Also of interest to many will be a good article on the importance of small CDCs.

Whether you think it's misguided nostalgia or a positive trend, there's discussion now of the value of corner stores in residential neighborhoods.

Lastly, many of you grapple with how to keep shared bikes, e-bikes, e-scooters, and more orderly on your streets and sidewalks. If you are interested, see Krakow's solution.

The next regular issue of Good Community Plus will arrive on a Thursday in December. Feel free to reply to this email if you have a comment. For questions, remember to use the public-facing page to ask your question. I will answer them on a page that becomes viewable on our website, but your email address won't show. You can be anonymous if you wish.