Continued inequity for urban ecosystem services

What will it take to achieve equitable tree canopy distribution in the City of Boston?

Rachel DanfordUniversity of Massachusetts, Amherst

May 30th 2013

Urban Greening

Agenda

• Urban trees • Current urban tree distribution • Methods• Five potential scenarios• Conclusions

Urban trees - ecosystem services

Soil Conservation

Wildlife Habitat

Health Benefits

Community Enrichment

Energy Conservation

Carbon SequestrationWater Conservation

Beauty

Urban canopy

Environmental Justice

Study Area

Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ)•Commonly used for assessing traffic related data•Can be variable in size

Urban tree distribution

Scenarios

• Population projections• Tree planting potential

– On impervious surface– On pervious surface– Street trees

• Projected canopy loss• Equity (Gini Indices)

Scenarios – “Current Trends”

• Canopy Cover – 28%• Equity ranking – 4• Projected canopy loss - 20,361 trees

• No investment in canopy• 7% population increase• 1% canopy loss

OUTCOMES

INPUTS

Scenarios – “Metrofuture”

• Canopy Cover – 33%• Equity ranking – 3• Projected canopy added – 121,751 trees

• Canopy investment to 35%• Focus on “compact

growth areas”• 18% population increase• 2.6% canopy lossOUTCOMES

INPUTS

Scenarios – “Grow Boston Greener”

• Canopy Cover – 32%• Equity ranking – 3• Projected canopy added – 102,285 trees

• Canopy investment to 35%• Add 100,000 trees to

“underserved” areas• 18% population increase• 2.6% canopy lossOUTCOMES

INPUTS

Scenarios – “Green Equity”

• Canopy Cover – 39%• Equity ranking – 1• Projected canopy added – 365,076 trees

• Canopy investment to 40%• Focus on EJ communities

• 13% population increase• 1.58% canopy loss

OUTCOMES

INPUTS

Scenarios – “All Trees”

• Canopy Cover – 40%• Equity ranking – 2• Projected canopy added – 420,392 trees

• Ecological availability• Plant trees in any available

planting site• 18% population increase• 2.6% canopy loss

OUTCOMES

INPUTS

Conclusions

Equity can be improved!•Even Green Equity doesn’t approach true equity for EJ communities•Any scenario will improve equity over the status quo (Current Trends)

Conclusions

There’s room for more!•Green Equity requires planting over 3x more trees than the current GBG initiative calls for•There’s potential to increase the overall canopy cover in Boston to 40%

Conclusions

Trees aren’t the only answer– Green roofs/walls– Rain gardens– Native landscaping– Permeable paving

What does it take to achieve equitable urban tree canopy distribution? A Boston case study.Rachel Danford, Chingwen Cheng, Michael Strohbach, Robert Ryan, Craig Nicolson, Paige Warren

NSF # BCS-0948984

Thank you!