As the potentially devastating impacts from extreme heat become increasingly real in New York City, public spaces offer a critical resource for the health and comfort of vulnerable populations during hot summer days, from DOT Plazas to streets, sidewalks, courtyards, parks, and playgrounds. Whether adapting these spaces as “cool streets” is a grassroots, community effort or a larger civic one, there is an additional potential to build them out as a life-saving infrastructure. Along the way, these “cool streets” can also bring uplifting, attractive places to enhance the well-being of underserved communities.