Abstract
There is an urgent need for holistic tools to assess the health impacts of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies relating to increasing public green spaces. Urban vegetation provides numerous ecosystem services on a local scale and is therefore a potential adaptation strategy that can be used in an era of global warming to offset the increasing impacts of human activity on urban environments. In this study, we propose a set of urban green ecological metrics that can be used to evaluate urban green ecosystem services. The metrics were derived from two complementary surveys: a traditional remote sensing survey of multispectral images and Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, and a survey using proximate sensing through images made available by the Google Street View database. In accordance with previous studies, two classes of metrics were calculated: greenery at lower and higher elevations than building facades. In the last phase of the work, the metrics were applied to city blocks, and a spatially constrained clustering methodology was employed. Homogeneous areas were identified in relation to the urban greenery characteristics. The proposed methodology represents the development of a geographic information system that can be used by public administrators and urban green designers to create and maintain urban public forests.
Highlights
Holistic tools to assess the health impacts from climate change mitigation/adaptation policies enacted to increase the amount of public green spaces are urgently needed
The metrics were derived from two complementary surveys: a traditional remote sensing survey of multispectral images and Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, and a survey using proximate sensing through images made available by the Google Street View database
On their review on health and climate relating to ecosystem services provided by street trees in an urban environment, Salmon et al [1] stated that, “Our review, in agreement with other papers in the ecosystem services (ESS) literature...has highlighted the importance of scale when determining the effect of trees on climate and health
Summary
Holistic tools to assess the health impacts from climate change mitigation/adaptation policies enacted to increase the amount of public green spaces are urgently needed. Urban vegetation provides numerous ecosystem services on a local scale and is a potential adaptation strategy that can be monopolized in the era of global warming, and it can offset the increasing impacts of human activity on the urban environment. In this respect, on their review on health and climate relating to ecosystem services provided by street trees in an urban environment, Salmon et al [1] stated that, “Our review, in agreement with other papers in the ecosystem services (ESS) literature...has highlighted the importance of scale when determining the effect of trees on climate and health. An empirical study [3] conducted on a project scale using direct measurements obtained with an infrared camera showed that the degree of foliage shading from rows of trees on building facades may decrease surface temperatures by up to 9 ◦C
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