S

Healthy Trees Healthy People:

Valuing and Expanding Urban Canopy

Vivek Shandas

Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning

The Promise and Peril of Trees

Kalpataru – the divine tree of life Yggdrasill – Norse tree

connecting all of life

Jubokko – lives on human blood Zaqqum – tree from hell Jimenju – human head tree

Nariphon – the tree of sensual seduction

What Happened?

Humans

Trees

Culture

Health

Asthma

Obesity

Heart Disease

Hypertension

Isolation

Diabeties

Cancers

What Happened?

Humans

Trees

Culture

Health

Asthma

Obesity

Heart Disease

Hypertension

Isolation

Diabeties

Cancers

Three Objectives

S Provide a scientific basis for integrating trees into cities

S Trees as one part of your health care plan ($)

S Debut a trees and health application for strategically expanding tree in 13 cities of the U.S.

S Support a culture of trees into human dominated landscapes

S Solicit volunteers to test the online trees and health application

S Start telling stories about the benefits and challenges of integrating trees into our culture

Regulation based on ambient concentrations

• Most significant sources regulated --

emission inventories

• Focus on major, stationary sources

• Limited assessments of individual exposure

Methods for evaluating human exposure to air pollution

(1) Airshed modeling (100km2) – downscaling, integrated chemistry, transport modeling

(2) Dispersion modeling – GIS interpolation of model receptors

(3) Land use regression – Geospatial regression of land use parameters with ambient

measurements

(4) Proximity based – Location of pollutant source and associated ‘impact zone’

(5) Interpolation – From point measurement to continuous surface of air pollutant concentrations

State of the Science

Spatial Scale Matters

Chronic burden of near-roadway traffic

pollution in 10 European cities

(APHEKOM network) Perez et al (2013) European Respiratory

Journal

Hong Kong's roadside pollution is affecting

children's lungs

South China Morning Post, 31st Oct 2013

Traffic-Related Air Pollution and Asthma

Onset in Children:

A Prospective Cohort Study with Individual

Exposure Measurement

Jerrett et al, (2008) Environmental Health

Perspectives

Karner et al (2010) Near Roadway Air Quality: Synthesizing the findings from

real world data Environ. Sci. Technol.

Case Study: Portland Oregon

Portland

Lat. 45.52o N

Long. 122.68o W

Pop. 1.5 million

Area 1036 km2

Neighborhood Air Quality

~55 km

~48 km

144 sites

Mobile Air Pollutants

Explaining Variability in Air Quality

Land-use & land-cover

variables:

1. Roadways:

• Freeways

• Major Arteries

• Arteries

• Streets

2. Railroads

3. Industrial Area

4. Water

5. Area under tree

canopy

6. Area under non-

canopied veg

7. Population

8. Elevation

9. X (Longitude)

10. Y (Latitude)

24 circular buffers,

50m -1200m,

(50 m increments)

Mavko et al A sub-neighborhood scale land use regression model for predicting NO2

Sci Total Environ (2008)

Henderson et al Application of land use regression to estimate long-term concentration of

traffic-related nitrogen oxides and fine particulate matter Environ Sci Technol (2007)

Built Environment Factors

80% of the variation in air quality can be explained by six factors

Air Pollutant

TRAFFIC VOLUME ON FREEWAYS

within 1200m 19%

MAJOR ARTERIES within 500m 8%

ARTERIES within 350m 9%

POPULATION within 800m 10%

RAILROADS within 250m 4%

TREE COVER within 400m -12%

NO2(i)

….NO2 ppb, at site (i)

FWY_AADT1200

….freeway (m) in 1200m,

weighted with AADT

MAJ_ART500

…..major arteries (m) in 500m

ARTERIES350

….arteries (m) in 350m

STREETS(POP)800

….streets (m) in 800m,

weighted by the population

RAILS250

….railroads (m) in 250m

ELEVATION

….elevation (ft)

TREES400

….tree cover (m2 ) in 400m

X_DIST

….distance (m), along the east-west

axis, from the center of the city

Calculating Health Impacts

Regional Concentrations Dose Response Population 2013 (US Census Bureau)

Missed School Days

Emergency Room Visits

Hospitalizations

Lung Disease

Older Adults

Younger Adults

Lower Income

Minorities

Health Impact from Trees

Health Impact Incidence Estimate

(LUR) Economic Valuation

(in $1,000,000)

Asthma Exacerbation, Missed school days (4-12 years) 32,003 2.74

Asthma Exacerbation, One or More Symptoms (4-12 years) 93,480 14.60

Emergency Room Visits, Asthma (all ages) 258 0.08

HA, All Respiratory (65 and older) 289 5.35

HA, Chronic Lung Disease (less Asthma) (65 and older) 135 1.85

$24.62

Asthma

Exacerbation (4-

12 years)

Asthma Exacerbation

0 - 35

36 - 50

51 - 63

64 - 78

79 - 91

92 - 107

108 - 129

130 - 155

156 - 221

222 - 664

LUR:

93,480

Total of ~$25M in Health

Impacts due to One (1)

Air Pollutant (NO2)

Health Improvement from Trees

Health Impact Reduced Incidence

due to Trees Valuation of Benefit

(in $1,000,000)

Asthma Exacerbation, Missed school days (4-12 years) 6083 0.52

Asthma Exacerbation, One or More Symptoms (4-12 years) 17,663 2.76

Emergency Room Visits, Asthma (all ages) 46 0.01

HA, All Respiratory (65 and older) 49 0.92 HA, Chronic Lung Disease (less Asthma) (65 and older) 24 0.33

Sum Value: $4.54

%NO2 decrease due to trees

0.9 - 7.1

7.2 - 9.2

9.3 - 10.4

10.5 - 11.6

11.7 - 13

13.1 - 14.6

14.7 - 16.5

16.6 - 18.9

19 - 22.5

22.6 - 45

APP: Call to Action

T&H APP: Access

T&H APP: Prioritize

T&H APP: Plan

Solicitation Alert!

We’re Looking for a Few Good People

S Testing Existing Application (Spring 2015)

S Beta test the usability and effectiveness

S Apply to diverse audiences – public health, planners, natural resource managers, community organizations, etc.

S Collaboration (Summer 2015 +)

S Extend to other regions

S Integrate with existing tools and data

www.treesandhealth.org

Acknowledgements

Graduate Students: Meenakshi Rao, PhD candidate ESM

Anthony Thompson, MURP Candidate

Mandia Gonzales, MURP Candidate

Shavon Caldwell, MURP

Ellen Dorsey, MURP

Consultants: Advisory Council Members

PlanitGeo

Teams of other graduate and undergraduate students