An approach to prioritize urban tree planting to mitigate heat and advance equity in New Haven

Urban tree planting plays a vital role in mitigating heat and advancing environmental justice. In this study, we evaluate four essential components for urban forestry decision-making with various datasets in New Haven: tree planting potential, tree equity, heat mitigation, and ease of implementation. Our study enables urban forestry practitioners to prioritize tree planting, ensuring that heat mitigation benefits are maximized and distributed more equitably in New Haven. We found that considering all four components to prioritize tree planting maximizes benefits and minimizes costs in New Haven. While planting in environmental justice (EJ) neighborhoods is more difficult to implement, the beneficial impacts are larger than in non-EJ neighborhoods. Therefore, incorporating equity alongside implementation considerations is essential if advancing equity is a policy goal. Our study helps guide and prioritize tree-planting decisions to reduce urban heat and advance equity, especially when financial or human resources are limited.