Research into Durham's Trees
We are very fortunate to have rigorous research into Durham's trees and urban canopy. Highlights of the research projects are below, along with links to the primary research documents.
Planning a Sustainable Tree Canopy for Durham:
2020 research into Durham's tree canopy
This research project was done by three Duke University Master's Graduates: Grace Hancock, Mingfei Xiong, and Alex Vanko. Their research includes a robust community survey, models of where to plant trees to reduce crime, heat, and flooding, and research into how much of Durham's tree canopy would be protected under various scenarios. The summary of their findings is below, along with videos and other information.
Planning a sustainable tree canopy for Durham: Project Presentation
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Trees are a vital part of a city’s infrastructure. The urban forest provides many ecosystem services to residents including health benefits, air pollution removal, extreme heat reduction, stormwater mitigation, and even lower violent crime rates. Durham, North Carolina is 52% covered by trees, but its canopy is declining from urban development, and it is unevenly distributed due to a history of racial and socioeconomic inequity. Parts of the city that are more urbanized, non-white, and poor tend to have far less tree cover than more rural, white, affluent areas. |
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This Master's Project sought to help TreesDurham and the City of Durham plan a sustainable tree canopy that meets the city’s goal of 55% cover by 2040. Expansion of Durham’s urban forest must address the concerns of the community, maximize ecosystem services, and consider possible changes to city development codes. We addressed these needs by (1) conducting a community survey to understand Durham residents’ attitudes towards city trees, (2) creating a tree-planting prioritization map based on ecosystem services, and (3) modeling the future of Durham’s urban forest under multiple development scenarios. We recommend that TreesDurham and the City of Durham (1) incorporate input from Durham residents, (2) target tree-planting to the areas that need tree ecosystem services the most, including heavily urbanized areas and roadside rights-of-way, and (3) greatly increase tree protection requirements in Durham’s development code. This will ensure that all residents of Durham enjoy access to the benefits of the urban forest.
Spotlight on research: Deep Dive into planning code's impact on Durham's trees
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Planning codes are often confusing and convoluted but have major impacts on what you experience day-to-day. In this presentation, Mingfei goes through how different levels of required tree protection will shape our forest canopy. The bad news is that if we do nothing, we'll only have 10% of our forests protected in Durham. The good news is, there is a path forward to protecting 1/3 or more of our trees!
Watch this excellent presentation on the latest research into how we can use our planning code to protect our trees and forests, and by extension, help stop climate change! |
Spotlight on Research: Social surveys and DUrham's Thoughts on Trees
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Durham is currently undertaking a massive social survey to try to figure out what Durham wants for its future- but what about what Durhamites want for their trees? In this presentation, Grace Hancock goes into the challenges and opportunities in conducting a statistically significant, representative survey of attitudes in Durham, then discusses what Durhamites want in their trees. An interesting look into social science, it turns out there are subtle differences in what people value about trees not only based on their race, but also health and social vulnerability of those living in their homes.
Watch this excellent presentation on the latest research into Durham's attitudes on trees and learn what your neighbor's think! |
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Spotlight on Research: How to Plant Trees to maximize their Health, Cooling and Crime Prevention Benefits in Durham
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Watch this a deep dive into the research surrounding Durham's trees, how they impact crime, air pollution, heat and flooding, and where we should plant to create a healthy & sustainable community.
Alex Vanko presents the results of his work at Duke University analysis the impact of Durham's trees on heat, air pollution, crime and flooding. Based on these findings, he has created a planting prioritization that can help guide where we put trees for the highest impact. We'll are also previewing the launch of an interactive map so you can look at the benefits of trees in your neighborhood, and see how much they impact the crime, heat and flooding surrounding you. Definitely a presentation you'll want to catch! |