by D Locke, JM Grove, JWT Lu, A Troy, JPM O’Neil-Dunne, B Beck

Cities and the Environment. 3(1):article 4

2010

In 2007, New York City launched MillionTreeNYC as one component of their goal to become the world’s “first environmentally sustainable 21st century city.” In support of that, a method utilizing GIS was developed to prioritize tree planting sites based on need and suitability. Need-based criteria included urban heat islands, areas of poor public health, poor air quality/noise, flood potential, and areas relevant to habitat and ecological corridors. Suitability criteria reflected the objectives of the three main planting partners (New York Restoration Project and two City agencies: Natural Resources Group and Central Forestry and Horticulture) and included program goals, appropriate parcel sizes, and public vs private land. These data were combined using custom GIS-based tools to create a ranked set of parcels for each partner to use for targeted tree planting.

Region: New York, New York
Publication Type: Journal article
Keywords: GIS, New York, prioritization, temperature moderation, tree canopy cover, tree planting initiative, urban forestry, and urban heat island