Climate change is intensifying extreme heat, prompting cities to deploy environmental sensor networks to capture hyperlocal conditions. However, top-down deployments that produce data without public input often fail to align with community needs. This paper presents a participatory design study of a high-density environmental sensor network co-developed with a volunteer-run community orchard as part of a city-wide system for heat resilience. Through two participatory design workshops, orchard volunteers acted as co-designers by collaboratively defining the network’s purpose, selecting sensor locations, and identifying key environmental data outputs. The workshops functioned as sites of infrastructuring—building relationships, technical literacy, and shared understanding—while situating environmental data within the orchard’s place-based practices of stewardship. From this process, we derive design criteria for community-driven sensor networks that prioritize both technical function and public formation. These contributions extend participatory design approaches in HCI and offer guidance for future deployments of environmental sensing technologies in community and urban agriculture contexts.

Individuals and communities around the world are increasingly exposed to extreme heat as a result of climate change. Urban residents are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat due to the urban heat island effect. However, understanding an individual’s heat exposure and risk is difficult to assess due to variations in temperature within an urban environment. In this paper, we examine the potential for wearable temperature sensors to accurately measure personal heat exposure. We synthesize literature from fields spanning urban planning to public health and present the results of a user study validating a set of four commonly used off-the-shelf temperature sensors in two different urban settings across five on-body locations. Our investigation found that wearable temperature sensors are less reliable in highly urban areas and when worn in direct sunlight. We discuss important design considerations for wearable temperature sensors and identify actionable ways to improve future studies.