Imagine that you are walking in the middle of a summer heat wave, at three in the afternoon, down a huge avenue in a big city. The streets are deserted and there is not a shadow to shelter you so that the sun does not burn you. Now imagine the same scenario, but the avenue is lined with leafy trees that form almost a continuum of shade with their canopies. Things change, right?
Trees in cities cool us down, and in fact it has been shown that they can help lower the temperature by between 2 and 8⁰C. They also have a calming effect and make life in cities more pleasant. They promote urban biodiversity by attracting birds and insects, absorb carbon dioxide, help clean polluted air … in short, the benefits of ‘greening’ our streets are unlimited, and many large cities around the world already give a leading role to trees in your urban planning.
A team of scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has developed an index that uses Google Street View data to quantify the number of trees in the large cities of our planet. It’s called the Green View Index , and it allows you to evaluate and compare the green canopy coverage between different cities. One of the main objectives of its creators, who openly offer their tool and the data obtained from the analyzes carried out, is to bring this type of knowledge to all citizens. “In cities the temperature rises, there are more extreme weather events and continuous air pollution. That is why the well-being of our urban trees is more important today than ever ”, explains Carlo Ratti, director of the Senseable City Lab at MIT. “Our index makes it possible to compare cities with each other, encouraging local authorities and communities to take steps to protect and promote more green roofs in our cities.”
Their project is called Treepedia , and it currently collects data from 27 large cities, although they will progressively expand their analysis. Thanks to the maps it collects, the user can immediately locate the greenest areas of the city and compare them with other cities. In the future, anyone will be able to add information about trees to an open source map and interact with authorities to request that more trees be planted in specific areas.
