Our Future Environment

In 2006, New York City introduced PlaNYC2030, a plan to create a more sustainable urban environment. As part of this plan  NYC will continue to plant trees in every planting opportunity in the city. This paper will address ways in which one can investigate resident needs beyond what is discussed in the plaNYC2030’s “Green the Cityscape” Open Space plan.
In the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, PlaNYC currently reports a 51-75% street tree stocking level. The city plans to increase this to 100% for all of the city by 2030. This tree planting initiative is a subsection of the Open Space plan’s “Re-Imagining the Public Realm” in PlaNYC. In other parts of the re-imagining plan the city will investigate community initiative and need when deciding on where funds and energy will be spent on public plaza and general greening of the city. However, community initiative and need is not mentioned as part of tree planting plans.  Investigating how the local population in Crown Heights currently uses sidewalk space is an important endeavor the city should make because it goes beyond simply increasing percentages of trees to first increasing areas where residents are currently utilizing public space and could benefit from focused tree planting. This inquiry leads to an initial question:
What is the street tree stocking level in a three square block subsection of Crown Heights and what is the pedestrian population density and activity in the same subsection during the most active hours? In the sidewalk space residents are already utilizing what is the correlating street tree stocking level?
Residents use public space differently according to what that space affords. This paper claims that there is an association between the percentage of tree cover and typical activity. By understanding the current use of Crown Heights sidewalks and the percentage of trees we can first plant trees where residents are most likely to benefit (from shade for example) because they are already utilizing the space for some other social or natural environment reason. The behavioral mapping technique can capture a snapshot of behavior and provide evidence to explain how residents are already using their sidewalks. This paper will examine the behavioral mapping technique but will first describe Crown Heights, the ‘third places’ concept and the benefits of urban trees. After then discussing behavioral mapping we will discuss current New York City planning practices, the research methodology employed in this study, findings, and ultimately implications and recommendations.

Filed under: natural landscape, social justice, environmental planning on April 1st, 2008