Geospatial Analysis of Urban Tree Distribution and Effectiveness of Ecosystem Services in Washington, D.C. with Relation to Traffic Volume
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Gaal, Angela R
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Abstract
Ecosystem services – and their economic role in providing goods to humans – is discussed as a critical planning focus for urban sustainability. Incorporating nature-based solutions provides a holistic approach to environmental policy that apply to economic, social, and ecosystem disciplines per geographic location. Chapter 1 explores publicly available tree point data to categorize street tree species according to their efficiency in providing stormwater protection, shade, carbon sequestration, air purification, and aesthetic value. The distribution of ecosystem services was determined using ArcGIS Pro 2.4.0. Chapter 2 determines the focal correlation between mean traffic volume data (2016-2019) and air purification services provisioned by public street trees using ArcGIS Pro 2.4.0 and R. Not all cities have the same demographic, climate, geography, etc., therefore environmental policy should be case-specific. Results indicate that geographic information systems (GIS) serve a key purpose to provide policy makers visual representations of geographic locations and a big picture view for creating policies that promote long term urban sustainability through cost-effective prowess and strategic management.
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Ecosystem services, Air purification, Urban sustainability, Geographic Information Systems, Traffic volume