Fast Fact Library

Areas of urban forest can contain as much carbon in above-ground biomass as similarly sized areas of tropical rainforest, according to a LiDAR analysis of trees in the London Borough of Camden.

Wilkes, Phil, Mathias Disney, Matheus Boni Vicari, Kim Caleders, and Andrew Burt. Estimating urban above ground biomass with multi-scale LiDAR. Carbon Balance Manage 13, 10 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13021-018-0098-0.

A visual preference survey of 836 Boston pedestrians and cyclists indicates a preference for trees and shrubs as dividers between bike lanes and traffic and the presence of trees alongside bike lanes over no trees...

Lusk, Anne C., Demostenes Ferreira da Silva Filho, and Lea Dobbert. (2018). Pedestrian and cyclist preferences for tree locations by sidewalks and cycle tracks and associated benefits: Worldwide implications from a study in Boston, MA. Cities. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.06.024

An in-depth analysis assessing urban tree cover and its impact on residential building energy use in the coterminous United States estimates a reduction of 38.8. million MWh or $4.7 billion in electricity use and...

Nowak, David J., Nathaniel Appleton, Alexis Ellis, and Eric Greenfield. (2017). Residential building energy conservation and avoided power plant emissions by urban and community trees in the United States. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening 21: 158-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2016.12.004

A study of tree cover in and around the California residences of 7,910 participants suggests that increased tree cover in a neighborhood is related to better overall health, particularly lower rates of obesity and...

Ulmer, Jared M, Kathleen L. Wolf, Desiree R. Backman, Raymond L. Tretheway, Cynthia JA Blain, Jarlath PM O’Neil-Dunne, and Lawrence D. Frank. (November 2016). Multiple health benefits of urban tree canopy: The mounting evidence for a green prescription. Health & Place 42: 54-62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2016.08.011

A global meta-analysis of 221 landscapes found that forest restoration enhanced biodiversity by 15-84% and vegetation structure by 36-77% as compared to degraded ecosystems. While restoration did not fully recover...

Crouzeilles, Renato, Michael Curran, Mariana S. Ferreira, David B. Lindenmayer, Carlos E. V. Grelle, and José M. Rey Benayas. A global meta-analysis on the ecological drivers of forest restoration success. Nature Communications 7, 11666 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11666

Researchers found that exposure to live plants, nature views, and the color green can increase students’ visual creativity in a classroom setting. Students’ visual creativity as determined by impartial judges was...

Syvie Studente, Nina Seppala, and Noemi Sadowska. “Facilitating Creative Thinking in the Classroom:  Investigating the Effects of Plants and the Colour Green on Visual and Verbal Creativity.” Thinking Skills and Creativity, 19 (2016) 1-8.

In a Berlin study, home window views that afforded a higher percentage of vegetation as well as a higher diversity of plant material were connected to lower stress levels in residents, as indicated by lower hair...

Honold, Jasmin, Tobia Lakes, Reinhard Beyer, and Elke van der Meer. “Restoration in urban spaces: Nature views from home, greenways, and public parks.” Environment and Behavior, 48.6 (2016): 796-825.

Tree species differ in their ability to reduce air and surface temperatures and increase relative humidity. Trees with a high leaf-area density and rate of transpiration are more effective at cooling air...

Gillner, Sten, Juliane Vogt, Andreas Tharang, Sebastian Dettmann, and Andreas Roloff. (2015). Role of street trees in mitigating effects of heat and drought at highly sealed urban sites. Landscape and Urban Planning, 143, 33-42.

In this study of New York City streetscapes, trees made people feel safer than building-related variables, and tall, narrow streetscapes made people feel safer than short, wide streetscapes. More buildings per...

Harvey, Chester, Lisa Aultman-Hall, Stephanie E. Hurley, and Austin Troy. (2015). Effects of skeletal streetscape design on perceived safety. Landscape and Urban Planning, 142, 18-28.

A study in Toronto, Canada found that having 10 more street trees on a city block, on average, improves health perception in ways comparable to an increase in annual personal income of $10,000 and moving to a...

Kardan, Omid, Peter Gozdyra, Bratislav Misic, Faisal Moola, Lyle J. Palmer, Tomáš Paus, and Marc G. Berman. (2015). Neighborhood greenspace and health in a large urban center. Scientific Reports, 5.