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Using cool roofs, urban shade trees, and high-albedo pavements to mitigate urban heat islands, can potentially reduce U.S. energy use for air conditioning by 20%, saving over $4 billion per year in energy use. When...

Akbari, Hashem, Mel Pomerantz, and Haider Taha. (2001). Cool surfaces and shade trees to reduce energy use and improve air quality in urban areas, Solar Energy, 70 (3), 295-310.

Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) symptoms in children are relieved after spending time in nature. The greener the setting, the more the relief. When parents with children with ADD were asked to list the activities...

Taylor, Andrea Faber, Frances E. Kuo, and William C. Sullivan. “Coping with Add.” Environment and Behavior 33, no. 1 (2001): 54–77. https://doi.org/10.1177/00139160121972864.

A study of low-income urban children before and after moving to different homes found that children whose new homes had the greatest increase in views of greenery and nature also had the highest levels of cognitive...

Wells, Nancy M. (2000). At home with nature: Effects of “greenness” on children’s cognitive functioning. Environment and Behavior, 32, 775-795. https://doi.org/10.1177/00139160021972793

A Dutch study determined the increase in property value for homes with nearby landscape amenities, based on the type of amenity. The most economically significant amenity, having a water body adjacent to the back...

Luttik, Joke. “The Value of Trees, Water and Open Space as Reflected by House Prices in the Netherlands.” Landscape and Urban Planning 48, no. 3-4 (2000): 161–67. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0169-2046(00)00039-6.

Research in Tel Aviv determined that the presence of trees cooled the air from between 0.5°F on a heavily trafficked street to 2°F in a small (0.37 acre) garden. The study also found that the cooling effects could...

Shashua-Bar, L., and M. E. Hoffman. (2000). Vegetation as a climatic component in the design of an urban street: an empirical model for predicting the cooling effects of green urban areas with trees. Energy and Buildings. 31(3). 221-235.

Results of a study of 200 schools in South Carolina's Lowcountry showed that students ages 5 to 15 are four times more likely to walk to schools built before 1983 than to those built more recently.

Kouri, Christopher. Wait for the Bus: How Lowcountry School Site Selection and Design Deter Walking to School and Contribute to Urban Sprawl. A Report Prepared for the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League. Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University (November 1999). https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED451681. 

Residents at a Chicago public housing development living in buildings with more trees and grass reported that they knew their neighbors better, socialized with them more often, had stronger feelings of community...

Kuo, Frances E., William C. Sullivan, Rebekah Levine Coley, and Liesette Brunson. (1998). Fertile ground for community: Inner-city neighborhood common spaces. American Journal of Community Psychology, 26(6), 823-851.

A Sacramento County study found that city-wide maximum mid-day air temperature reductions due to the shading and evapotranspiration of trees are in the range of 0.04°C to 0.2°C per percent canopy cover increase.

Simpson, James R. (1998). Urban forest impacts on regional cooling and heating energy use: Sacramento County case study. Journal of Arboriculture, 24, 201-214.

An experiment with 160 college student participants suggested that driving through forested scenery may help reduce stress from previous stressors and reduce stress response to subsequent stressors.

Parsons, Russ, Louis G. Tassinary, Roger S. Ulrich, Michelle R. Hebl, and Michele Grossman-Alexander. (1998). The view from the road: Implications for stress recovery and immunization. Journal of Environmental Psychology 18(2), 113–140.

Simulations of the impact of tree shade on residential air conditioning in California showed that three shade trees (two on the west, one on the east side) could reduce a home's annual energy use for cooling by 10...

Simpson, James R., and E. Gregory McPherson. (1996). Potential of tree shade for reducing residential energy use in California. Journal of Arboriculture, 22(1), 10-18.

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