In 2021 Montgomery Planning was awarded a Transportation Land-Use Connections Grant from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments to develop Cool Streets Guidelines for Downtown Silver Spring along with a consultant team. The guidelines are a starting point for addressing urban heat and the impacts of climate change. They have already influenced the 2022 Silver Spring Downtown and Adjacent Communities Sector Plan and its accompanying Design Guidelines. The Cool Streets Guidelines effort included an analysis of the surface temperatures of streetscape materials, the Universal Thermal Climate Index (“feels-like” temperatures), and a menu of strategies to cool the urban landscape.
The Guidelines are currently informing the ongoing update to the Silver Spring Streetscape Standards.