A new tree grows in Brooklyn - but is it in the right place to optimize shade that protects residents from dangerous summer heat?
A research partnership between Cornell Tech, New York City and New Yorkers for Parks aims to help heat-vulnerable communities in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx answer that question, leveraging advanced analytics and local input to determine where trees are needed most to improve public health.
At the university's Roosevelt Island campus on Aug. 5, New York City Council Speaker Julie Menin and a half-dozen council members joined Cornell Tech leaders and advocates to announce a new initiative, "The Generative Canopy." Collaborating primarily with three community boards, officials said the yearlong, $250,000 project could serve as a model for how urban data can empower local communities to fight climate change and build cooler and healthier cities.
"Trees are green infrastructure that can help urban systems adapt to the more extreme weather we're all seeing, from intense rainfall to heat waves," said Michael Samuelian, founding director of the Urban Tech Hub at the Jacobs Technion Cornell Institute and the director of campus planning and sustainability at Cornell Tech. "Natural solutions can help mitigate some of the worst effects of climate change, but there's a lot of technology behind where to put these nature-based solutions and how to engineer them. This is a great example of taking technology from our labs and bringing it directly to the people of New York City who need it the most."
Menin said New Yorkers know what it's like to search for scraps of shade on scorching summer days - a much more difficult task in some neighborhoods, where residents face a disproportionate risk of heat-related injury or death.
"By determining how much shade is delivered to specific sidewalks, we can identify which areas are particularly vulnerable to extreme heat and which areas need more trees to be able to mitigate that," Menin said. "That means that we can direct resources to neighborhoods that need it the most ... combining the forces of innovation and environmental justice to protect public health."
Adam Ganser, executive director of New Yorkers for Parks, an independent advocate for quality parks and open spaces, said the organization has worked with Cornell's tree canopy researchers for about five years, helping to identify high-risk communities.
"You could see the temperature differential between those neighborhoods and adjacent neighborhoods could be up to 10 degrees different, which is oftentimes a life-and-death issue," he said. "What I really appreciate about the work here at Cornell Tech is that they've done the effort to make sure the technology and research gets in the hands of the people who need it most. Our role is to do that, is to connect this research with people. ... We're excited to get started."
Other City Council members participating in the press conference included the chairs of two related committees: Carmen De La Rosa, Technology; and Ty Hankerson, Parks and Recreation. University participants included Greg Morrisett, the Jack and Rilla Neafsey Dean and Vice Provost of Cornell Tech.
The Generative Canopy will develop a "version 2.0" of Tree Folio NYC, a web-based tool developed jointly by the College of Architecture, Art and Planning's (AAP) Design Across Scales Lab and the Urban Tech Hub. The first version of the high-resolution, 3D model created a digital twin of New York's urban canopy that enables visualizations of individual trees and their cooling benefits, which vary based on factors ranging from tree size and type to street orientation and building heights.
Samuelian said the next generation of the project will be more generative and interactive, integrating advanced AI, aerial imagery, existing tree census data and climate forecasting to help communities identify where new canopy is needed to reduce heat risk. The project's co-principal investigators are Anthony Townsend, senior research associate at the Urban Tech Hub, and Alexander Kobald, associate director of the Design Across Scales Lab, which is led by J. Meejin Yoon, the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of AAP.
Extreme heat is the city's deadliest natural disaster, officials said, disproportionately affecting vulnerable neighborhoods with high densities of impervious surfaces like concrete and asphalt, known as heat islands. Canopy deficits in such areas are correlated with poor health outcomes. Over the next year, The Generative Canopy will focus on three community districts that are significantly "under-canopied," with elevated heat vulnerability. Those neighborhoods and districts are:
- East New York, Brooklyn (Bk2)
- Corona and Elmhurst, Queens (Qn4)
- Hunts Point and Longwood, the Bronx (Bx2)
The research partnership follows the city's April announcement of its first Urban Forest Plan, which aims to increase the city's tree canopy coverage from 23.4% to 30% by 2040. The city said doing so would advance environmental justice, mitigate heat effects and improve quality of life.
In addition to improving canopy modeling to inform tree planting strategies, The Generative Canopy will work directly with residents to ensure the tools and goals are aligned with local priorities. Led by New Yorkers for Parks, the partnership will host a series of workshops with the three community boards to draft planting proposals. Results will be shared at a culminating event at Cornell Tech.
"By putting cutting-edge urban AI in the hands of communities," Samuelian said, "The Generative Canopy aims to help them direct future tree investments where they can have the greatest impact."
