Dublin Tree Canopy Study

Urban areas profoundly alter the local atmosphere, hydrology and biology, usually for the worse. Increasing the vegetative cover in urbanised areas is considered an effective way of offsetting many of the undesirable outcomes of urbanisation and is often incorporated as Green Infrastructure into urban development plans. In this paper we present a first assessment of the green cover in Irish city centres (Belfast, Cork, Derry, Dublin, Galway, Limerick and Waterford) and evaluate the environmental benefits of trees for air quality using the i-Tree Canopy software. This online software is used to conduct a spatial sample of the urban landscape and estimate tree canopy cover from which potential air quality benefits are calculated. The results show significant differences between and within city centre areas in terms of vegetative (and tree) cover; Belfast and Dublin, with less than 10% vegetative cover are in marked contrast to other cities where the average is close to 30%. Based on the findings we discuss place-based policies for improving green infrastructure in Irish cities and the evidence needed to support policies.

2013

Urban forests provide numerous ecosystem services. To quantify these services and guide management to sustain these services for future generations, the structure or composition of the forest must be assessed. There are two basic ways of assessing the structure or composition of the urban forest: Bottom-up approach. Field-based assessments to measure the physical structure of the forest (e.g., species composition, number of trees–typically used for strategic resource management or advocacy by connecting forest structure, functions and values with management costs, risks, and needs. Top-down approach. Assessments of canopy cover using aerial or satellite images–used to determine amount and distribution of tree cover, potential planting space and other cover types. These two approaches provide different types of urban forest information. The purpose of this guide is to outline the advantages, disadvantages and costs associated with various common assessment alternatives under these tw...

Irish geography: bulletin of the …, 2010

While urban areas are often considered to be comprised chiefly of artificial surfaces, they can contain a substantial portion of green space and a great diversity of natural habitats. These spaces include public parks, private gardens and street trees, all of which can provide valuable environmental services, such as improved air quality. Trees play a particular role in cities as they are often placed along roadsides and in the median strip of busy streets. As such they regulate access to sunshine, restrict airflow, provide shelter, scavenge air pollutants and manage noise at the street level. A tree planting policy can be an important part of a broader environmental strategy aimed at improving the quality of life in urban areas but this requires up-to-date knowledge of the current tree stock, which does not exist for Dublin. This article presents an inventory of trees in Dublin’s city centre, defined as the area between the Grand and Royal canals. The results show that there are over 10,000 trees in the study area representing a density of 684 trees km
2 or one tree to approximately every 50 residents of the city centre. The tree canopy extent when in full foliage was nearly 1 km2 in extent or 6% of the study area. A more detailed analysis of those trees planted along streets shows little species variation but clear distinction in the sizes of trees, which is indicative of the age of planting. These data are used to estimate the carbon stored in Dublin’s trees.

2000

Landscape and Urban Planning, 1996

2014

Abstract. With the availability of many sources of imagery and various digital classification techniques, assessing urban forest canopy cover is readily accessible to most urban forest managers. Understanding the capability and limitations of various types of imagery and classification methods is essential to interpreting canopy cover values. An overview of several remote sensing techniques used to assess urban forest canopy cover is presented. A case study comparing canopy cover percentages for Syracuse, New York, U.S. interprets the multiple values developed using different methods. Most methods produce relatively similar results, but the estimate based on the National Land Cover Database is much lower. Key Words. Remote sensing; urban tree canopy. Urban Forest Canopy Cover Urban forest canopy cover, the area covered by tree and shrub canopies in an urbanized or developed region, is a fundamental measure of urban forest structure (Nowak 1994). The structure of the urban forest det...

2015

Environmental Research Letters, 2019

The context in which trees and forests grow in cities is highly variable and influences the provision of ecological, social, and economic benefits. Understanding the spatial extent, structure, and composition of forests is necessary to guide urban forest policy and management, yet current forest assessment methodologies vary widely in scale, sampling intensity, and focus. Current definitions of the urban forest include all trees growing in the urban environment, and have been translated to the design of urban forest assessments. However, such broad assessments may aggregate types of urban forest that differ significantly in usage and management needs. For example, street trees occur in highly developed environments, and are planted and cared for on an individual basis, whereas forested natural areas often occur in parkland, are managed at the stand level, and are primarily sustained by natural processes such as regeneration. We use multiple datasets for New York City to compare the ...

Academia Oncology, 2024

People are living longer lives with incurable cancer, and the number of people living with incurable/metastatic cancer is growing. Although people are surviving longer, the quality of their life has yet to receive adequate research attention. Psychological vital signs, evidence-based psychological factors that are critical to patient wellbeing, can be applied to the wellbeing of patients living with cancer. This fits with the current shift to integrative cancer treatment that incorporates multiple aspects of the patient and prioritizes patient-centered care. The current paper will provide a clinician-friendly review of the psychological vital signs that relate to patients’ wellbeing when they are living with cancer indefinitely, when they are diagnosed with cancer but are not actively dying. Implications for education, future research, and practical assessment will be addressed.