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Project Overview


Using Urban Canopy Designs to Improve Air Quality and Public Health in Metropolitan Areas of the U.S.


Research Goals

  1. Develop a national network of public health professionals, land use planners and urban foresters to conduct research on the role of urban forests in addressing challenges to environmental justice; and 
  2. To develop a spatially-explicit decision making tool for land managers to prioritize urban forestry campaigns within urban environments of the United States.

Research Questions 

  • How do different canopy designs (type, composition, distribution and location of vegetation) improve air quality and reduce heat island formation in urban landscapes? 
  • Which canopy designs are best for reducing the incidence of acute respiratory illness in neighborhood residents most exposed to air pollutants? 
  • Which canopy designs are most promising for reducing health care costs to the United States? 

Project Components

  • Engage public health professionals, land use planners, and urban foresters (2011 - 2014)
  • Characterize vegetation and canopy designs across 13 cities in the United States (2012)
  • Establish an empirical relationship among canopy design and air quality and temperature (2013 - 2013)
  • Link vegetation patterns, health, and financial cost to society (2013 - 2014)
  • Conduct statistical analysis, validation of results, and model future scenarios in terms of health and cost (2014)
  • Develop a spatially explicit online tool for use by public health professionals, land use planners, and urban foresters (2014)

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Figure 1: Percent Canopy Cover per block in Portland, Oregon using Fragstats analysis
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Figure 2: Aggregation Index per block in Portland, Oregon, using Fragstats analysis

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