Fast Fact Library

According to a study of 17 sites in the Northeastern and Southeastern United States, asphalt intersections or crosswalks with improvements such as crosswalk art, intersection murals, painted plazas, or sidewalk...

Schwartz, Sam. (April 2022). “Asphalt Art Safety Study: Historical Crash Analysis and Observational Behavior Assessment at Asphalt Art Sites.” Bloomberg Philanthropies. https://assets.bbhub.io/dotorg/sites/43/2022/04/Asphalt-Art-Safety-Study.pdf

A cost-benefit analysis based on existing green schoolyards in California compared a green schoolyard prototype with a gray schoolyard prototype. Over a 20-year period, the green schoolyard's cumulative net cost was...

Trust for Public Land and MKThink. (2022). “California Green Schoolyards: A Cost-Benefit Study.” https://www.tpl.org/sites/default/files/220511_TPL_GSY_Report_Final.pdf.

Quality pollinator habitat can be created beneath solar arrays. In an Oregon experiment, researchers found that pollinator abundance, diversity, and richness as well as pollinator-flower visitation rates were...

Graham, Maggie, Serkan Ates, Andony P. Melathopoulos, Andrew R. Molkdenke, Sandra J. DeBano, Lincoln R. Best, and Chad W. Higgins. ”Partial shading by solar panels delays bloom, increases floral abundance during the late-season for pollinators in a dryland, agrivoltaic ecosystem”. Scientific Reports 11, 7452 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-86756-4.

A statistical analysis of a 3D model of a Columbus, Ohio neighborhood estimated that if the neighborhood's trees were all mature, surface temperatures would be lowered by 3.48° F. 20 additional mature trees would...

Park, Yujin, Jean-Michel Guldmann, and Deshen Liu. “Impacts of Tree and Building Shades on the Urban Heat Island: Combining Remote Sensing, 3D Digital City and Spatial Regression Approaches.” Computers, Environment and Urban Systems 88 (2021): 131. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2021.101655.

Greening in and around schoolyards can improve academic achievement. A study of 450 public schools in Washington state showed positive relationships between school greenness and academic achievement in sixth graders...

Kuo, Ming, Samantha E Klein, Matthew HEM Browning, and Jaime Zaplatosch. “Greening for academic achievement: Prioritizing what to plant and where.” Landscape and Urban Planning 206 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2020.103962.