Abstract
Locating potential tree-planting sites and analyzing tree canopy cover is important in the planning and management of urban forests. This paper reports the quantification of potential planting sites as well as tree canopy cover in the urban area of Mexico City, estimated by means of SPOT (Satellite Pour l’Observation de la Terre) 6 satellite images and a supervised pixel-based classification approach. Results showed an estimated area of 3100.7 ha of potentially useful sites, including places with bare soil and grass-covered areas such as median strips, roundabouts and parks. An average tree canopy cover of 10.6% and an average impervious surface of 79.2% for the 15 boroughs were also analyzed. The area of potential planting sites would represent a 5% gain for the current tree canopy cover if it were to be planted. With an overall accuracy of 92.4%, the use of both images from the SPOT 6 sensor and the classification approach proved to be appropriate for obtaining thematic covers in the urban environment of Mexico City.
Highlights
Spaces with vegetation play a critical role in the proper functioning of cities, impacting the quality of life of their inhabitants
Mexico City is below the average with only 10.6% tree canopy cover, with the possibility of reaching 15.5% if the current TCC plus the percentage added by the market potential is considered; even so, the percentage is still lower than that reported by the cities mentioned
While the detected sites covered with grass and bare soil were considered potentially useful areas to plant more trees and subsequently increase the wooded area of Mexico City’s urban area, these sites must be filtered or discriminated by a series of criteria such as land use in order to retain those that are free of any restrictions
Summary
Spaces with vegetation play a critical role in the proper functioning of cities, impacting the quality of life of their inhabitants. Quantifying the tree canopy cover (TCC)—a canopy-occupied area viewed from above—of a city assists in planning, managing, and researching the present vegetation, as well as in estimating the value of the services by revealing both the characteristics and distribution of the trees [12,13]. Knowledge of tree canopy cover and potential planting sites is important in increasing the size of urban forests. Urban planners and decision-makers require this detailed information to guide the selection and maintenance of trees appropriate to the local conditions of the site [14], since in most cases complete information regarding the urban forest, the community framework and a resource management approach is lacking [12,15]
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