Abstract
More communities around the world are recognizing the benefits of green infrastructure (GI) and are planting millions of trees to improve air quality and overall well-being in cities. However, there is a need for accurate tools that can measure and value these benefits whilst also informing the community and city managers. In recent years, several online tools have been developed to assess ecosystem services. However, the reliability of such tools depends on the incorporation of local or regional data and site-specific inputs. In this communication, we have reviewed two of the freely available tools (i.e., i-Tree Canopy and the United Kingdom Office for National Statistics) using Bristol City Centre as an example. We have also discussed strengths and weaknesses for their use and, as tree planting strategy tools, explored further developments of such tools in a European context. Results show that both tools can easily calculate ecosystem services such as air pollutant removal and monetary values and at the same time be used to support GI strategies in compact cities. These tools, however, can only be partially utilized for tree planting design as they do not consider soil and root space, nor do they include drawing and painting futures. Our evaluation also highlights major gaps in the current tools, suggesting areas where more research is needed.
Highlights
IntroductionAir pollution caused by the growth of urbanization and industrialization continues to plague societies in the twenty-first century [1]
The study area is comprised of six areas in Bristol City Centre according to the postcode BS1 (i.e., Bristol Central, see https://www.streetlist.co.uk/bs/bs1, accessed on 1 June 2021) with a population of 11,991 inhabitants living between Broadmead and Wapping Wharf (Figure 1)
The choice was supported by: (1) preliminary desk research using ArcGIS Version 10.5.1 and the EDINA Digimap web-based mapping service that evaluated the physical BS1 zones, which took into account the location of air pollutant monitors, population density, and NO2 concentrations and found that NO2 is above the United Kingdom (UK) legal limits within postcodes
Summary
Air pollution caused by the growth of urbanization and industrialization continues to plague societies in the twenty-first century [1]. Air pollution derived from human activities comes from both indoor and outdoor environments [4]. It causes harm to health, decreases economic growth, and augments social problems (i.e., by way of knock-on societal effects) [5]. In 2015, the World Health Organization [6] estimated 4.3 million deaths occurred due to indoor air pollution and 3.7 million due to outdoor air pollution (i.e., 8 million for the year). Data published by the United Kingdom (UK) Royal College of Physicians demonstrates that there are around 40,000 fatalities each year due to air pollution [7]
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