scholarly journals The Cost of Not Maintaining Trees: Findings and Recommendations from an International Symposium and Summit

2016 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Koeser ◽  
Jess Vogt ◽  
Richard Hauer ◽  
Robert Northrop ◽  
Ward Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Structural Integrity ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Care Costs

Urban trees are both an asset and a cost to municipalities. Past research has focused largely on the asset—quantifying and valuing the social, economic, and environmental benefits provided by trees in urban areas. Relatively fewer studies have focused on defining the appropriate level of tree care (costs or inputs) for efficiently maintaining tree health and structural integrity, and potential resulting liabilities. On 18–20 March 2015, the International Society of Arboriculture assembled a panel of research and industry experts for a research symposium and summit titled, The Costs of Not Maintaining Trees. In the weeks leading up to the summit, the Delphi technique was initiated to help build consensus on key research questions related to the economics of trees and their care. After three iterations of questions and discussion, the panel identified 14 research topics that were deemed “very important” or “important” by at least 12 of the 14 expert panelists (80% being a commonly used threshold for consensus). Results of this work are intended to help focus future research and funding efforts in arboriculture and urban forestry.

scholarly journals Urban Trees and Human Health: A Scoping Review

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (12) ◽  
pp. 4371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen L. Wolf ◽  
Sharon T. Lam ◽  
Jennifer K. McKeen ◽  
Gregory R.A. Richardson ◽  
Matilda van den Bosch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Human Health ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
Weight Status ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Research Policy ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Future Research

The urban forest is a green infrastructure system that delivers multiple environmental, economic, social and health services, and functions in cities. Environmental benefits of urban trees are well understood, but no review to date has examined how urban trees affect human health. This review provides a comprehensive summary of existing literature on the health impacts of urban trees that can inform future research, policy, and nature-based public health interventions. A systematic search used keywords representing human health, environmental health, and urban forestry. Following screening and appraisal of several thousand articles, 201 studies were conceptually sorted into a three-part framework. Reducing Harm, representing 41% of studies, includes topics such as air pollution, ultraviolet radiation, heat exposure, and pollen. Restoring Capacities, at 31%, includes attention restoration, mental health, stress reduction, and clinical outcomes. Building Capacities, at 28%, includes topics such as birth outcomes, active living, and weight status. The studies that were reviewed show substantial heterogeneity in purpose and method yet indicate important health outcomes associated with people’s exposure to trees. This review will help inform future research and practice, and demonstrates why urban forest planning and management should strategically promote trees as a social determinant of public health.

scholarly journals Remotely Sensed Tree Characterization in Urban Areas: A Review

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 4889
Author(s):  
Luisa Velasquez-Camacho ◽  
Adrián Cardil ◽  
Midhun Mohan ◽  
Maddi Etxegarai ◽  
Gabriel Anzaldi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Remotely Sensed ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Remotely Sensed Data ◽  
Individual Tree ◽  
Processing Methods ◽  
Urban Tree

Urban trees and forests provide multiple ecosystem services (ES), including temperature regulation, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity. Interest in ES has increased amongst policymakers, scientists, and citizens given the extent and growth of urbanized areas globally. However, the methods and techniques used to properly assess biodiversity and ES provided by vegetation in urban environments, at large scales, are insufficient. Individual tree identification and characterization are some of the most critical issues used to evaluate urban biodiversity and ES, given the complex spatial distribution of vegetation in urban areas and the scarcity or complete lack of systematized urban tree inventories at large scales, e.g., at the regional or national levels. This often limits our knowledge on their contributions toward shaping biodiversity and ES in urban areas worldwide. This paper provides an analysis of the state-of-the-art studies and was carried out based on a systematic review of 48 scientific papers published during the last five years (2016–2020), related to urban tree and greenery characterization, remote sensing techniques for tree identification, processing methods, and data analysis to classify and segment trees. In particular, we focused on urban tree and forest characterization using remotely sensed data and identified frontiers in scientific knowledge that may be expanded with new developments in the near future. We found advantages and limitations associated with both data sources and processing methods, from which we drew recommendations for further development of tree inventory and characterization in urban forestry science. Finally, a critical discussion on the current state of the methods, as well as on the challenges and directions for future research, is presented.

Industrialization, the Family Economy, and the Economic Status of the American Elderly

1991 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Gratton ◽  
Frances M. Rotondo
Keyword(s):  
Social Security ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Family Economy ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Family ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
The Cost

In his 1911 film What Shall We Do with Our Old? D.W. Griffith dramatized the belief that urban, industrial America had no place for the elderly. Fired for being too slow at his work, an impoverished old man cannot buy food or medicine for his wife, who languishes in their drab, one-room apartment. Justice Benjamin Cardozo told a similar tale in upholding the constitutionality of the Social Security Act (Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 [1937]): “The number of [aged] unable to take care of themselves is growing at a threatening pace. More and more our population is becoming urban and industrial instead of rural and agricultural.” Cardozo relied on studies by the U.S. Social Security Board (1937: 3), which found that “the major part of the industrial population . . . earns scarcely enough to provide for its existence. Savings are small and generally cover little more than the cost of burial insurance.” As a result, “industrial workers in [urban] areas . . . reach old age with few resources” (ibid.: 33).

Through the lens of social capital: a research agenda for studying IT outsourcing

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 107-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beena George ◽  
Rudy Hirschheim ◽  
Alexander von Stetten
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Success Factors ◽  
Past Research ◽  
It Outsourcing ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Research ◽  
Comprehensive Framework

Purpose – This paper proposes a new research agenda for information technology (IT) outsourcing,motivated by the belief that the social capital concept enables IT outsourcing researchers to capture more of the nuances of the client–vendor relationship in IT outsourcing arrangements. Design/methodology/approach – The paper builds a comprehensive framework of social capital based on Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998) to examine the IT outsourcing life cycle. Past research on IT outsourcing is examined applying the parameters of the framework to identify issues that have been addressed in research on IT outsourcing and to uncover the gaps in past research. Findings – The social capital framework is applied to IT outsourcing which suggests new avenues for future outsourcing research. Research limitations/implications – While past research has identified success factors for IT outsourcing, a significant number of outsourcing arrangement still fail to meet expectations. The research agenda presented in this paper encourages an examination of IT outsourcing from a different perspective to determine how to successfully manage IT outsourcing. Originality/value – The paper provides a new framework that is useful for identifying the relationships among past research in IT outsourcing as well as for identifying potential topics for future research.

Using technology for studying populations off the social mainstream

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-72
Author(s):  
Roni Berger
Keyword(s):  
Social Research ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Hidden Populations ◽  
Population Groups ◽  
Case Examples ◽  
Effective Strategies ◽  
Sensitive Topics ◽  
The Social ◽  
Rich Data

Recognition has been growing of the importance and unique challenges of studying the experience and related personal and relationship outcomes in marginalized populations (e.g. nonwhites, non-heterosexual, indigenous people, those impacted by poverty, physical disability and mental illness, victims of domestic violence). Traditional social research yielded limited knowledge about such population groups due to issues of positionality, limited accessibility and stigmatization. Partcipatory and qualitative methods offered some culturally sensitive effective strategies for generating relevant knowledge about ‘hidden’ populations that were excluded from past research. The constant development of technology expands the possibilities for such research by offering innovative ways to address some of the aforementioned challenges in accessing previously hard to reach population groups and collecting rich data especially relative to sensitive topics. These developments raised debates regarding ethical, logistic and methodological issues including the potential impact of social desirability and differential access to technology. Informed by a review of available knowledge about groups in the half shadows and about using technology for social research, this article discusses and uses two case examples to illustrate employing technology-assisted research of populations under the radar. Future research should continue to focus on identifying additional uses of technology to further develop ways of generating knowledge about those who have been ‘in the half shadow’ to inform the development of appropriate services, intervention strategies and policies that can help enhance social justice.

scholarly journals IDENTIFICATION AND MAPPING OF TREE SPECIES IN URBAN AREAS USING WORLDVIEW-2 IMAGERY

2015 ◽  
Vol II-2/W2 ◽  
pp. 175-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. T. Mustafa ◽  
H. N. Habeeb ◽  
A. Stein ◽  
F. Y. Sulaiman
Keyword(s):  
Support Vector Machine ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Vegetation Indices ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Support Vector ◽  
Classification Methods ◽  
Tree Detection ◽  
Consistent Information

Monitoring and mapping of urban trees are essential to provide urban forestry authorities with timely and consistent information. Modern techniques increasingly facilitate these tasks, but require the development of semi-automatic tree detection and classification methods. In this article, we propose an approach to delineate and map the crown of 15 tree species in the city of Duhok, Kurdistan Region of Iraq using WorldView-2 (WV-2) imagery. A tree crown object is identified first and is subsequently delineated as an image object (IO) using vegetation indices and texture measurements. Next, three classification methods: Maximum Likelihood, Neural Network, and Support Vector Machine were used to classify IOs using selected IO features. The best results are obtained with Support Vector Machine classification that gives the best map of urban tree species in Duhok. The overall accuracy was between 60.93% to 88.92% and κ-coefficient was between 0.57 to 0.75. We conclude that fifteen tree species were identified and mapped at a satisfactory accuracy in urban areas of this study.

scholarly journals Why Opt-in to a Planting Program? Long-term Residents Value Street Tree Aesthetics

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dexter Locke ◽  
Lara Roman ◽  
Colleen Murphy-Dunning
Keyword(s):  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
Street Tree

Many cities are making substantial capital investments in urban tree planting. Residents play active and diverse roles in enhancing and protecting the urban forest, and are therefore critical to many municipal-level policy objectives. The way residents perceive and value the urban forest can have implications for achieving urban forestry goals through residents and volunteers. However, urban residents are not a monolithic block or homogenous category; instead, they have diverse opinions, needs, and constraints. Moreover, relatively little is known about how residents hear about available resources, such as free trees, and decide to ‘opt-in’ to tree planting initiatives, choosing to plant and maintain trees on or near their properties. The focus of this study was to address three questions about participation in a request-driven program that provides free street trees to residents of New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.: 1) Who requests trees through this program? 2) How did the requesters hear about this program? 3) Why did residents request free street trees? Survey respondents were primarily long-term residents of New Haven; mostly learned about the opportunity from their neighbors; and requested a street tree to replace a removed tree, because they value the aesthetics, and to a lesser extent the environmental benefits. Future research should systematically investigate differences between participants and non-participants in local tree planting initiatives, exploring possible trends across cities and programs. Such studies would identify opportunities and barriers to engaging private residents in efforts aimed at increasing canopy.

Public Perceptions of the Value of Urban Trees in the River Rouge Watershed

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 310-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDREA OLIVE ◽  
LARA RUSCH ◽  
ANGELA AYERS
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Green Space ◽  
Public Attitudes ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Urban Green Space ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Personal Benefit

ABSTRACT This study examines attitudes toward urban green space among homeowners in the River Rouge Watershed of southeast Michigan. Trees play a significant role in urban areas by providing numerous environmental, economic and social benefits to community residents. But public attitudes toward trees are not well understood. Through survey research we found that residents are most likely to value trees for personal benefit (like shade) but that social reasons are also valuable (improving the neighborhood). We also illustrate that cost is not an impeding factor in willingness to plant trees. Finally, our study reveals that homeowners felt tree planting is both an individual responsibility as well as a government responsibility. On the basis of these findings, we recommend that urban forestry policy should focus on education and outreach in an attempt to marry tree-planting initiatives to the individual benefits of trees as well as the community benefits of urban green space.

Valuing the Benefits of Green Stormwater Infrastructure

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy W. Ando ◽  
Noelwah R. Netusil
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Urban Trees ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Rain Gardens ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Green Stormwater Infrastructure

Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI), a decentralized approach for managing stormwater that uses natural systems or engineered systems mimicking the natural environment, is being adopted by cities around the world to manage stormwater runoff. The primary benefits of such systems include reduced flooding and improved water quality. GSI projects, such as green roofs, urban tree planting, rain gardens and bioswales, rain barrels, and green streets may also generate cobenefits such as aesthetic improvement, reduced net CO2 emissions, reduced air pollution, and habitat improvement. GSI adoption has been fueled by the promise of environmental benefits along with evidence that GSI is a cost-effective stormwater management strategy, and methods have been developed by economists to quantify those benefits to support GSI planning and policy efforts. A body of multidisciplinary research has quantified significant net benefits from GSI, with particularly robust evidence regarding green roofs, urban trees, and green streets. While many GSI projects generate positive benefits through ecosystem service provision, those benefits can vary with details of the location and the type and scale of GSI installation. Previous work reveals several pitfalls in estimating the benefits of GSI that scientists should avoid, such as double counting values, counting transfer payments as benefits, and using values for benefits like avoided carbon emissions that are biased. Important gaps remain in current knowledge regarding the benefits of GSI, including benefit estimates for some types of GSI elements and outcomes, understanding how GSI benefits last over time, and the distribution of GSI benefits among different groups in urban areas.

The Effects of Consumer-Directed Health Plans on Episodes of Health Care

2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia M. Haviland ◽  
Neeraj Sood ◽  
Roland D. McDevitt ◽  
M. Susan Marquis
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Cost Savings ◽  
Past Research ◽  
Health Plans ◽  
After Care ◽  
Consumer Directed Health Plans ◽  
Episodes Of Care ◽  
Generic Pharmaceuticals ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Care Costs

Past research has shown that high deductible and consumer-directed health plans (HD/CDHPs) can significantly reduce health care costs. In this paper we investigate how these cost savings are realized. We use panel data from many large employers and difference in difference models to examine how HD/CDHPs affect the number of health care episodes and the cost per episode. Our results show that about two-thirds of the cost savings from HD/CDHP enrollment are from reductions in number of episodes and the remaining one-third of the savings are from reductions in costs per episode. The presence of a Health Reimbursement Arrangement (HRA) or Health Savings Account (HSA) does not temper the effects of high deductibles on number of episodes. However, enrollees in plans with generous employer contributions to HSAs have more episodes of care than enrollees in plans where employers make smaller account contributions. The reductions in costs per episode and in visits to specialists, inpatient care, and use of non-generic pharmaceuticals suggest that higher deductibles are effective at making patients more cost conscious even after care is initiated.

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