1. Continued inequity for urban
ecosystem services
What will it take
to achieve
equitable tree
canopy
distribution in
the City of
Boston?
Rachel Danford
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
May 30th
2013
3. Agenda
• Urban trees
• Current urban tree distribution
• Methods
• Five potential scenarios
• Conclusions
4. Urban trees - ecosystem services
Soil Conservation
Wildlife Habitat
Health Benefits
Community Enrichment
Energy Conservation
Carbon Sequestration
Water Conservation
Beauty
Urban canopy
Environmental Justice
5. Study Area
Traffic Analysis Zone (TAZ)
•Commonly used for
assessing traffic related data
•Can be variable in size
7. Scenarios
• Population projections
• Tree planting potential
– On impervious surface
– On pervious surface
– Street trees
• Projected canopy loss
• Equity (Gini Indices)
8. 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
9. 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 loss
OUTCOMES
INPUTS
10. 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 loss
OUTCOMES
INPUTS
11. 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
12. 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
13. 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)
14. 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%
15. Conclusions
Trees aren’t the only answer
– Green roofs/walls
– Rain gardens
– Native landscaping
– Permeable paving
16. 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!
